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TxGreaseMonkey · Mar 4, 2010, 08:15 AM

If the CEL comes on and goes off normally, your car died because the distributor failed. This is why I harp about only getting a genuine Honda distributor housing. If your distributor dies on you in the left lane, going 70 mph, you may not make it to the right lane and live. I demand "military reliability" in my cars. I don't want them to let me down in a stressful situation or at an inopportune time.

TxGreaseMonkey · Mar 4, 2010, 08:18 AM

Call this outfit and see what they would charge you for a genuine Honda distributor housing:

College Hills Honda Parts

They tend to have very good prices.

kenhuth · Mar 4, 2010, 03:32 PM

Ok so I went to the car and tried to start it, still only cranks nothing else. The CEL went on and off like normal. I pulled the plugs and no spark. I put the original distributor (the one with the bad bearings) back on and... it started! I was able to drive it back to the house (yay - no tow truck) before it started to act back up. When I got home, I let it idle and it took about 1/2 hr before it started to run rough and squeaking again. Can something be wrong when the engine starts warming up it's causing this? I'm going to put the new one back on and check it one more time just to make sure that the connections weren't loose. If it still doesn't work, I'll ask for a refund and hunt for an genuine from the salvage yards. I did email the company that I bought it from and this is what they wrote back -"Wow, that is really something. I haven't seen one of those come back in over 2 years. As a rule, we don't send out replacements without getting the original back first, but I think your best bet to get this done the fastest is to call our 1-800 number after 11:30 PST and talk to them about getting a replacement sent out preemptively. They'll probably just have you put a card on file so that they can charge you if you don't return the original."

I don't think that I can trust another one - I trust you more. Let me know if you have any thoughts about the news here. Thanks

TxGreaseMonkey · Mar 4, 2010, 06:20 PM

What's happening is that, when the bad bearing in the distributor gets hot, it starts to make noise, due to the lack of lubrication. Grease is soap (fatty acid) with oil--when the oil starts to break down, the bearing wears out. Honda distributors tend to last 50,000 to 100,000 miles. Once again, you can see that your problem is strictly distributor-related. Try to find a salvage Honda distributor that was pulled from a car with low mileage, with the same part no. as your original.

kenhuth · Mar 4, 2010, 07:03 PM

Yep, I'll try to find a good used one. Do know what part in the new distributor went bad since there is no spark or can it be many things?

TxGreaseMonkey · Mar 4, 2010, 07:05 PM

My guess is that there's a problem with the internal sensors. I have not seen problems with ICMs and coils.