Honda OEM dizzy vs. aftermarket

[w261w261]

Guess it's time for a new distributor. I have all the signs. Majestic Honda (25% discount) is $604. I don't want one off a wreck. Anyone had experience with a particular brand of aftermarket? Thx.

[MessyHonda]

for 600 bucks.....convert to OBD1

[shepherd79]

what are you signs?
you can rebuild your distributor to run better. for a lot less money.
I just did mine and everything cost me about $60-70 in parts.
All you need is new vacuum advance if yours doesn't hold the vacuum.
new springs, you can get Mr. gasket performance set for chevy 350 at your local autoparts $10. It will make your advance kick in early thus boosting your low end and making your car a lot more city drivable.
get some oil, nail polish remover and q-tips. took me about 1 hour but everything works great.

the main mearing inside the distributor is sealed type so it is kind of hard for it do get damaged. the only thing your have to worry about is the play in the main shaft. the best way to find out is take distributor apart and try to move it. if you have any play, your bearing is worn out to shit.
all you have to do is take distributor apart, clean all the old hard greese off and put everything back together with new springs and vacuum advance (if needed.

you can buy distributor cheaper from advance autoparts or rockauto.com

PS. if you are going to buy vacuum advance, get it from a dealer. autoparts stores don't carry right ones for EFI.

[A20A1]

wow $600, I get rebuilt ones for $250 and I get some money back after I return the core.

[w261w261]

OK, well I've done some research. Autozone has one that's their house brand that's the least expensive, and it has a lifetime guarantee. Other brands range higher, and they have a 90 day guarantee. I'd go with the Autozone, but I wonder if their stuff is cheap crap. A lifetime guarantee doesn't mean so much if you're putting a new one in every couple of years.

Anyone have any experience with Autozone stuff?

Cardone seems to be a big name with less expensive, yet lifetime guarantee. Anyone with experience on their stuff?

[carotman]

A lifetime guarantee doesn't mean anything in fact. It's guaranteed against material defects. If the distributor wears and breaks from regular use, that's not covered.

However, a new dizzy will last at least 10 years.

[LX-incredible]

Cardone sucks. I bought a remanufactured distributor from them. NONE of the sensors are new, old brittle wires, broken connectors (held to the dizzy with heat shrinks). The housing had a chunk broken off then epoxied shut. One of the wires that goes to the coil was cut and then soldered. After I installed my intake my car wouldn't start. After checking everything I found that the solder joint had pulled apart. I guess a weatherproof crimp would've bankrupted them. They sandblast the outside, grease everything, replace advance springs, and test, for only $250, what a deal. I've had bad experiences with cardone on everything but their calipers, find another rebuilder, or buy from honda. If I did it again I would buy a new one from honda for $600 rather than $250 + problems. When this one goes out, and it will, I will be going obd 1, which I should've done in the first place.

[w261w261]

Well, Cardone does indeed suck. I had ordered a distributor from them (actually PartsAmerica.com) before the last post went up, so I held my breath. The distributor looked good, wires seemed to be ok. I didn't open it up. IT DIDN'T WORK! FUCK! All that trouble and waiting, then I ended up with one out of a junkyard, which would have been much simpler in the first place. Now I have to go back to Advance Auto Parts in Bridgeport to return it.

Cardone is now on my permanent shit list.

[LX-incredible]

They've been in my book for years. Someone is making alot of money on these. I highly doubt that they spend over $15 to rebuild one.

[w261w261]

Interestingly, my mechanic said that the rebuilt distributor was putting out spark, but the car had no fuel pressure. He reinstalled the old (failing) dizzy and things worked. He put in one from a wreck, and it worked. Apparently, there is a connection to the fuel pump through the distributor? Anyone know about this?

[MessyHonda]

Interestingly, my mechanic said that the rebuilt distributor was putting out spark, but the car had no fuel pressure. He reinstalled the old (failing) dizzy and things worked. He put in one from a wreck, and it worked. Apparently, there is a connection to the fuel pump through the distributor? Anyone know about this?

wtf.....that is werid.....never heard of anything like that

[A20A1]

I don't know efi cars well enough... maybe it has something to do with the tach output.

[LX-incredible]

Our cars do not have a crankshaft position sensor, which is used to trigger the injector pulses and, in newer cars the coil packs. Since our engines were originally designed without fuel injection the cheapest way to add a CPS was to put one in the distributor. We actually gave 3 hall effect type sensors in our distributors. The one that you see when the cap is removed controls the spark, the other controls the firing of the four injectors, and the last tells the ECU which is cylinder #1 (TDC sensor). So yes, with our set up you can get a spark without an injector pulse signal.
One of the sensors inside is bad. I guess that good ol' A1 Cardone has decided that the distributors no longer need to be tested. Anyone reading this, learn from the mistakes of others and stay away from A1 Cardone. Car done... couldn't be further from the truth. Sorry for the rant, i've been drinking.

[w261w261]

Just to finish off my adventures with the POS Cardone distributor: PartsAmerica.com has an arrangement with Advance Auto Parts where you can return stuff, such as the old distributor (to get the core charge refunded). I go there this morning with my non-functioning dizzy, and the manager tells me that they will do a credit and provide another one, but not a refund. Why? "We only give refunds on units that haven't been used." "Then how am I supposed to tell if the things doesn't work without installing it?" "We only give refunds on units that haven't been used." I finally asked him if he had seen the movie "Catch 22." The effort was wasted.

I eventually prevailed, but it took a call to PartsAmerica, then going back in the store and waiting for 10 or 15 minutes for this doofus to come back out to the counter.

For those who don't know what "Catch 22" is about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_%28logic%29

[LX-incredible]

Since it costs them so little to "rebuild" one of these, they probably could send out 3 or 4 malfunctioning units for every one that worked, and not take a loss. They usually won't return your money at first, but if you stand your ground you will prevail. Consider yourself lucky that it didn't work, it beats taking it up the @$$ later from A1.









CARDONE SUCKS!

[MessyHonda]

good think we dont have cardone around here...

[2oodoor]

Since it costs them so little to "rebuild" one of these, they probably could send out 3 or 4 malfunctioning units for every one that worked, and not take a loss. They usually won't return your money at first, but if you stand your ground you will prevail. Consider yourself lucky that it didn't work, it beats taking it up the @$$ later from A1.







CARDONE SUCKS!

Yea watch out for reman distributors, some times they just replace what may be defective and leave the rest of the old parts in it, just cleaned.
I always rebuild all my distributors in anything I ever had that had one, but have not done this Honda yet.
somebody mentioned you can use the Chevy advance springs, which ones, the kit comes with differrent degrees of early advance, lighter to heavier spings in otherwords. So which ones are good for low end city driving, and my car as described in sig.
Thanks

[LX-incredible]

good think we dont have cardone around here...

Lucky, that's all the parts stores sell around here. If it's your only car, you almost have to get cardone, and it's getting so hard to find a good dizzy at the j/y.

[w261w261]

So I left a rant at the Cardone web site. Some guy sent me a message back, kind of a generic one. I left a more detailed rant, including the pasted text about the 3 sensors that was on a previous message on this thread. He replied, asked me for the number off the part, said their technicians are all held personally responsible for their work. The only trouble was, his English was a little ... formal ... kind of like ... Bombay. I suggested that if Cardone was so concerned, that they should send me a free distributor to make up for the time and trouble they had caused me. He didn't reply to that message LOL.

[Oldblueaccord]

theres a Beck Arnley and a Hi test reman on rock auto might be a shot.

I too am having the run around with Cardone on the brakes on my IH scout atm. Half the stuff thats susposed to be in with the calipers wasnt. I m one of those people that check the stuff while your waiting in line behind me. The guy told me hes so sick of Cardone stuff and comebacks he just gave me the copper washers of the help shelf for free and I had to order the slides as well which really should be part of the caliper kit anyway.
I cant wait to see how they work
wp

[w261w261]

Cardone has a nice slick web site. And they talk a good game. It looks like they have a cynical business model, e.g. talk about excellence but in reality just throw shit out there. I'd like to say that that kind of a strategy self-destructs eventually, when someone else comes in and really does what they say they're doing, but it might take awhile. This is what happened to Detroit, now the "Big 3" are about to be a shadow of their former selves, and they only have themselves to blame.

[LX-incredible]

I too am having the run around with Cardone on the brakes on my IH scout atm. Half the stuff thats susposed to be in with the calipers wasnt. I m one of those people that check the stuff while your waiting in line behind me. The guy told me hes so sick of Cardone stuff and comebacks he just gave me the copper washers of the help shelf for free and I had to order the slides as well which really should be part of the caliper kit anyway.
I cant wait to see how they work
wp

That's right, I also remember not getting new crush washers with the calipers I got from them. We just reused the old ones, which is a big no-no. I take back what I said earlier, EVERYTHING CARDONE SUCKS! Of course the calipers haven't started to leak yet, unlike the NUGEON ones I put on the honda. They only lasted like 3 weeks! I've had problems with almost every rebulider at some point. I am just going to start doing it myself. The parts cost almost as much as getting a rebuilt unit, but they will all be new and it will be done right. I you have to get a rebuilt part, try to get it from the same manufacturer that originally made the part. They have all the parts to replace everything on it and the knowhow to do it right. Denso is a good example if this.

[LX-incredible]

Cardone has a nice slick web site. And they talk a good game. It looks like they have a cynical business model, e.g. talk about excellence but in reality just throw shit out there. I'd like to say that that kind of a strategy self-destructs eventually, when someone else comes in and really does what they say they're doing, but it might take awhile.

I can't wait until that day. You might like to think that it will be soon, but it won't.
Cardone is everywhere and it is cheap. Most people are willing to take their chances and go with the cheaper part. I was like this, but when you work on vehicles enough, you learn to steer away from it. Most shops don't care about the quality of the parts they install. If it goes out within the warranty you get a free replacement, but labour is never included. The owner of the vehicle will probably sell it before the part even goes out. Let us not forget it is a changing world. People are in a continuous cycle of buying new vehicles and trading them in before the warranty is up. There is not such a demand for rebuilders as there once was. Unfortunately, I belive companies like cardone will be around for a long time and the best that we can do is try to steer others away from them as well.

[w261w261]

My customer service guy, "Ralph" said he would communicate my request for
a free distributor to the "appropriate person." I'm not holding my breath.

You got all these manufacturers in 3rd and 4th world countries clamoring for business, and trying to get it with the lowest prices. Quality has to suffer in that environment. If I had the skills and the time I'd rebuild stuff myself also, but I don't. So I buy Honda most of the time, but on the distributor $600 was just too steep, therefore I took a shot on Cardone. With hindsight, considering the hassle it caused me, $600 maybe wasn't so bad. C'est la vie.

Also the junkyard replacement is working fine, so we'll see.

[LX-incredible]

If I had the skills and the time I'd rebuild stuff myself also, but I don't. So I buy Honda most of the time, but on the distributor $600 was just too steep, therefore I took a shot on Cardone. With hindsight, considering the hassle it caused me, $600 maybe wasn't so bad. C'est la vie.
Also the junkyard replacement is working fine, so we'll see.

I was in the same boat when my dizzy shat on me. Didn't have any means to buy one through the net, couldn't find the parts to rebuild it, and didn't have the time. My dealership wanted over $800 for it, cardone was the only choice at the time. I had to get it, as the tranny on the burban was out at the time, and this was my only vehicle. If I could of got one on the net for $600, I would have. I guess it's alright, the money I saved can go towards an obd 1 conversion in the future.

C'est la vie?