Distributor Overhaul

[Dr_Snooz]

It seems like a lot of people (including me) are experiencing distributor issues (typified by the jumping tach needle). Napa wants nearly $600 for a rebuilt, so I bought a scrapper from the wrecking yard and tore into it tonight. I was going to do a rebuild how-to but here's what I found:

- The vacuum advance is bad (~$75 from Napa)
- The advance mechanism bearings are bad (not available)
- All the seals are bad (some available from Majestic)
- The main bearing is bad (not available)
- The crank angle sensor tests okay, but is oil saturated from the bad seals (not available)
- I don't know how to test the igniter (ICM) but would like to replace it (~$105 from Napa)

Anyway, I don't hold out much hope for overhauling these at home and saving any money. Majestic sells the assembly new for about the same as Napa, so I'm probably going that route.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm open.

[forrest89sei]

When mine died I got a Cardone Reman

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...y,partGroup,25

ALOT Cheaper, and worked great

[2oodoor]

sounds like you picked the wrong one at the scrapers

have you considered the 4th gen dist mod.? cheeshhh 600 bucks for the same ole same ole ... i would go any other route possible, even electromotive or megajolt.

[MessyHonda]

on my obd1 swap my tach jumps after like 5k rpm....i know i should replace it but im waiting for the parts to become avaliable

[DBMaster]

These guys sell a nicely done rebuild. It is THE most expensive one at Rock Auto ($368). They have been listing my distributor on eBay because they have a surplus. I got mine for $155 shipped. Give them a call and see what they can do for you.

http://www.hitestusa.com/

[w261w261]

When mine died I got a Cardone Reman
ALOT Cheaper, and worked great

I got a Cardone and it didn't work at all. It's luck of the draw here, Cardone doesn't test (I assume) the part of it that takes the place of the crank position sensor, and mine was kaput. I got one from the JY that worked fine...but what a hassle when I took the Cardone dizzy back to Advance Auto Parts:

Store: "You can have a replacement, you'll have to wait a week for it to come in."

Me: "I don't want a replacement, I want a refund."

Store: "We don't refund on equipment that's been installed."

Me: "How do you tell it doesn't work without installing it?"

Store: "We don't refund on equipment that's been installed."

I had to jump up and down to get my money back.

[DBMaster]

I should add that the first one sent to me didn't work, either. They guy's name at Hi-Test is Terry. He sent me a replacement immediately and it worked. Because the electronic parts rarely wear out and you can easily test the vacuum advance. It looks like they reuse a lot of those parts and just fix the bearing, seal, and rebuild the mechanical advance mechanism. He says the red dust is actually from the pins that hold the weights and what they do is weld new ones to the bottom plate. He did not require my core which has a vacuum module that I bought a few years ago so at least I have spare parts. Majestic sells the vacuum module for $45.

[justpassntime]

I got one from a wrecking yard for $15. I checked it there with an ohm meter to make sure it was good. Took it apart, cleaned and resealed it with seals from hondiscountparts.com. I have about $35.00 total invested.

[greentee76]

When mine died I got a Cardone Reman

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...y,partGroup,25

ALOT Cheaper, and worked great

I can vouch for what Forrest say as I now have this dizzy on my car.

[Dr_Snooz]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I hadn't seen Rock Auto before. What a great resource!

Just out of curiosity, why did you choose the Cardone unit over the Beck Arnley?

[forrest89sei]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I hadn't seen Rock Auto before. What a great resource!

Just out of curiosity, why did you choose the Cardone unit over the Beck Arnley?

They didn't offer The Beck Arnley at the lower price when I bought my dizzy.

Also google rock auto promo codes before you place a order, there tend to be alot of 5%-10% off coupons floatin around

[DBMaster]

I have an interesting fact. My mechanic confirmed that my distributor was leaking before I bought a new one. He checked with a friend who works for Honda. There is exactly ONE new TEC distributor for my 89 LXi in the US. No matter where I ordered it the inventory would have been pulled from the same place. I figured I would give the one from Hi-Test a try at $155 rather than spending $600 for the new one, however, my mechanic AND the guy from Hi-Test both said new is way better. I wish there were an easier way to retrofit a different one that doing an OBD I conversion. There are all kinds of new aftermarket distributors out there for 4g's and up, though.

[MessyHonda]

obd1 is the best way to go....i paid like 500 bucks for all the parts to convert it. and i got it chromed tuned.

[Dr_Snooz]

Thanks Messy. I'm definitely interested in that. I see that there is a thread from 2003 describing this. The pics are gone though. Aside from that thread, how do I get more info?

[Oldblueaccord]

It seems like a lot of people (including me) are experiencing distributor issues (typified by the jumping tach needle). Napa wants nearly $600 for a rebuilt, so I bought a scrapper from the wrecking yard and tore into it tonight. I was going to do a rebuild how-to but here's what I found:

- The vacuum advance is bad (~$75 from Napa)
- The advance mechanism bearings are bad (not available)
- All the seals are bad (some available from Majestic)
- The main bearing is bad (not available)
- The crank angle sensor tests okay, but is oil saturated from the bad seals (not available)
- I don't know how to test the igniter (ICM) but would like to replace it (~$105 from Napa)

Anyway, I don't hold out much hope for overhauling these at home and saving any money. Majestic sells the assembly new for about the same as Napa, so I'm probably going that route.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm open.

w261 I thought had a thread where he was able to get the bearing, or he had a part number or we had figured out a good part number by the measurements etc. Or Im just crazy.

[DBMaster]

I just got the replacement for the Hi-Test rebuilt unit that fried on me and took the coil with it. I decided to disassemble it to use the new parts to rebuild my own distributor. There is a new bearing and shaft seal in it. The ignition module appears to be OEM. It says NEC on it and the rubber around the plug looks old. There looks to be heat sink compound between the module and distributor body so I'll have to pick up some of that. I noticed that they just use a single set of springs, no one spring inside the other. I'll have to check the tension compared to mine when I get it apart.

The fun part is that the little posts that hold the weights are pretty worn. One of them has lost almost half its original diameter. There were bits of some old plastic bushings in place, but they are useless. My plan is to located some type of bushings to take the slop out of the weight assembly. I'll let you all know how it comes out.

[Oldblueaccord]

Post up the bearing number or numbers on it if you would and any seal numbers you can find that may help out later.



wp

[DBMaster]

I can't see any numbers. It looks like instead of ordering that odd size bearing this company shims the inner race and uses on slightly larger. Seems kind of cheesy to me.

[DBMaster]

The saga is over - I hope! I disassembled the replacement Hi-Test reman that was sent to me as a replacement. The weights had a huge amount of slop in them. I ordered small bronze bushings from Purvis Bearing and put them over the posts. I had to drill out the holes in the weights to fit over the bushings. I don't know what the weights are made of, but it's damn hard. I literally melted a drill bit. I also disassembled the original one from my car. The breaker plate was frozen. The springs were shot. Mine only had one spring per weight, by the way. The bearing was so bad I couldn't even turn it by hand. But, there was no oil in the distributor. I reassembled the reman with my repaired advance weights and I used my original ignitor (I put some heat sink compound under it just like OEM.). I said a little prayer and it started. It is no longer so dead off the line. I was basically not getting full advance before. I just hope it lasts!