Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[stealthiskey]

A few weeks ago my distributor went out, so I got towed home and replaced it with a remanufactured unit from Advance auto.

Now, less than 1000 miles later my tach is jumping; i.e. distributor/ignitor is about to shit the bed again. 

What is the best replacement ignitor / icm to get?  I've seen JD recommend beck arnley; they look beefy (copper heat sink), but where can I buy one?
What company makes oem Honda ignitors?  I see tec on the old coil, but Hitachi on the ignitor.

Discuss

[Jorsher]

I've heard Distributor King recommended.  Whether they're really decent or not, I'm not sure.

Doesn't Auto Zone do the Beck Arnley shit?

[Foowee]

Oem honda ignitors are made by tek or nec.  I remember people saying one of the two was favored.  I don't remember which one... 

[chris]

what actually failed on your dist? And yes the auto store units are total crap. I have had pretty good luck with their ignitors and coils though. The actual assembly is subpar at best.

[Jorsher]

I used an auto store coil for a while, and have been using an auto store ignitor for about a month ($60 at advance, $175ish at autozone for the beck arnley ) without problems.  Bought a reman dizzy from someone on here, not sure where it came from but has been fine.

[Joseph Davis]

I've heard Distributor King recommended. 

Abortion units.

Oem honda ignitors are made by tek or nec.  I remember people saying one of the two was favored.  I don't remember which one... 

The later one, whichever that was.  Probably NEC as i haven't seen a Tek one in about a million years.  There are a lot of Hitachi ones roaming about, might be a replacement unit introduced late OBD2 era or since phased in a factory replacement unit.


OP, start by cleaning your thermostat housing ground.

[stealthiskey]

Doesn't Auto Zone do the Beck Arnley shit?

All I see on their website is duralast ignitors and cardone distributors. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Duralast-Control-Module-Ignition/1995-Honda-Civic/_/N-j1i37Z9n80t?counter=0&itemIdentifier=167626_0_0_

what actually failed on your dist?

On the original dist, not sure. It was running fine then crapped out on the highway, wouldn't restart.  Wires and connections looked cracked/corroded, but measured ok for continuity.  Coil checked out for ohms as well.  Was probably the ignitor.

On the new unit, I'm pretty sure its the ignition control module/ignitor because that is what generates the tach signal, which is now being jumpy, and thus causing the car to run in rpm cells where it shouldn't be.

OP, start by cleaning your thermostat housing ground.

I'll double check it, it should be pretty clean though, sandblasted everything when I did the thermostat not tooo long ago.

[jabberwock]

Same shit happened to me.... JD saved my life that night.

[Jorsher]

stealth - if it isn't VatoZone or Advance then it's probably O'reilly's.  I know I've seen Beck-Arnley stuff, just can't remember what store because I shop them all...

Ignitor fixed my jumpy tach.

[jabberwock]

Advance sells Beck Arnley, dunno about Vato

[Joseph Davis]

Same shit happened to me.... JD saved my life that night.

When I pulled up you could hear the banjo music closing in.  Fastest coil/ignitor swap ever.   

[stealthiskey]

I think I've got a plan.   

Rechecked the the old distributor coil.  Secondary is shot, was reading in the 20Mohm range but even that is way out of spec.

Also checked the old ICM/igniter.  it still checks out.   

So the plan is to swap the old hitachi igniter with 193k miles on it into the new distributor.  Probably order a new one online, and install it next week, but I think this will do for now.

I guess the OEM Honda distributors used hitachi ignitors?

[jabberwock]

We discovered NEC and Hitachi inside a few distributors during our dueling banjo race

[stealthiskey]

So I pulled the advance auto distributor off the car.  Upon removing the cap a screw dropped right out onto the ground.  The screw was one of 3 holding the base plate into the distributor housing.  The other two screws were loose as well, and the plate could easily be wobbled by hand.  What a piece of SHIT.

The ignitor checked out (some nameless unit, no company wanted to take credit for), 2 k ohms between tach signal and switched gnd, but maybe that screw bouncing around inside was fucking with the other sensors.  I'm going to put the old hitachi unit in and see if that helps.


The thing that sucks is, I can't really just return it and get my money back.  My old distributor was filled with cracked wires, rusted screws and bad connections.  So I need the new assembly, but I know all the rest of the sensors/parts in it are shit!


I am tempted to just suck it up and buy the new distributor from Honda, 400 some $.  If anyone else is going through this that might be your best bet.

[chris]

or just buy a good used oem unit. What motor?

[jabberwock]

JD gave me an obd1 D housing or two... I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I passed one on to a nog in need. 

[Joseph Davis]

I am tempted to just suck it up and buy the new distributor from Honda, 400 some $. 

You can get NIB OEM housings with sensors, no coil or ignitor, in the $100-150 range.

[turbostd]

friend of mine bought an accord with a reman dizzy on it and it started acting up. I pulled the cap and one of the wires on the ignitor fell off. I squeezed the spade connectors together with needle nose pliers and it was fine till he sold the car a few mo later. So in my experience the reaman dizzys are junk or put together poorly lol.

[d112crzy]

reman dizzys are junk or put together poorly

This.

And converting to an external coil will prolong the life of your igniter. Along with using some dielectric grease on the igniters heatsink.