I have a 94 Honda Civic with B20B swap. Im running an unchipped P75 OBD1 setup. Here lately I have gone through 2 distributors in the span of 4 months. The first I had run for years and received a crankshaft sensor error code, or course as that sensor is no on OBD1 setups, the distributor was replaced with one purchased from O'Reilly Auto. The first replacement lasted a month or so before it crapped out. This lastest one has last a few months, however it crapped out on me Sunday. My question is 1. If you have stuck with using a traditional distributor where was it acquired as I have no confidence in the units from O'Reillys and I cannot seem to locate a OEM option that isnt outrageous in price. 2. What are thoughts on COP units? I have one person that I trust suggest the HondaRulez/Burton Racing Kit, and another that does not suggest them. I'm personally looking for the most realiable solution. This is the first time I have been let down multiple times by the distributor.

 

A good used B18/B20 OE distributor housing can be found for less than $300... and a brand new OE ICM and Coil would set you back about the same. Chances are good that this will take you 100K miles or so... and the ONLY reason to move on from that distributor is if any of the three pick-ups fail (codes 4,8, or 9). If $600 (likely less if you are savvy) sounds outrageous to you... consider the fact that you will spend just as much (or more) to switch to COP. There is no advantage to this system over a conventional distributor at your power level, and they are very sensitive to grounding issues... so if you think you should switch to COP so it is maintenance free... think again. Do NOT buy another cheap distributor from any Auto Parts stores... they are ALL garbage.

 

I have to post this as I have an aftermarket distributor for my HX since Honda discontinued mine, I had to go aftermarket. I did end up with a couple bad ones in the aftermarket but finally got a good one from Spectra. Been using this one for about 5 years now.. I tested the built in sensors to make sure they were reading correctly (specs in the service manual) and replaced everything inside, the igniter module I used Honda (wasn't cheap), the ignition coil I replaced with Honda too. The cap and rotor, yup you guessed it, Honda. Never had another problem. I will say that the igniter is what usually died quickly on the aftermarket units. For those of you who don't know what that is.. it's the brain/ecu of the distributor, has (on my hitatchi distributor) four wires coming out of it. But to say all aftermarket are junk, that's not 100% true and it is possible to get a good aftermarket unit. If you're willing to test them out to get a good one!

 

I think mine is a Spectra unit. I was thinking to replace the coil, but was not thinking about the ignitor. I think I can find FSM specs and I will try to test the other components. There has to be some type of "reliable" option out there. Im just looking for more opinions. Thanks a million.

 

hey you're welcome! ya some aftermarket is junk, but when there's nothing left but defective junkyard parts.. I had to take the chance on the aftermarket. So yours is a spectra? Thats cool, I thought that quality was better than the other ones I tried. The one that died was a dorman distributor (yes I now know how bad that company is now) the igniter is what died on mine. left me stranded on the side of the road. I learned a lot about the distributor in that adventure. When I've seen ignition coils die they kinda start acting up then slowly die, yes they can immediately die, but usually they cough their way to dying. But when I was driving and BAM! Nothing.. The tach dropped to zero and no amount of starting the car was going to get it going, then I knew it had to be the igniter.

Even looking at the honda vs the cheap aftermarket igniter you could see the difference in quality. that was 5 years ago so maybe the aftermarket got better? I know with mine it's the more expensive Hitachi distributor. I think everyone else got the TEC brand which is much cheaper in price!

It's very easy to test out the coil, just needs a multimeter set to ohms, service manual will have the specs. the igniter tests are kind of a joke, test this for voltage, test that for voltage.. eventually if it's getting voltage but it doesn't work the service manual tells you to replace it.. wow, really high tech, involved testing! hahaha!

Yeah the sensors are easy to test but I will tell you the specs they give in the manual are when the center shaft (where the distributor rotor is) spins! I had to realize the angles are what the sensors are measuring as that spins. So when you measure it, move the shaft back and forth and see if the numbers (ohms) you're getting are within the specs.. If you're close to the range you're ok. that way you don't test it and think right away it's bad. It's a doppler/hall-effect type sensors it will measure the coming and going of the shaft. hope that makes sense.

let us know how it goes..