91 civic corrosion of rotor button

Hello all,

I was helping a friend recently with his 91 civic sedan (D15 engine code I
think). The car wouldn't start so we went through the ususal things and
finally arrived at the distributor. The contacts were corroded and we
cleaned them as a temporary fix. Car started right up. I suggested he
repalce the plugs, wires, cap and rotor button as a precaution. The cap and
rotor contacts were badly corroded. A couple of days later he had replaced
everything and the car ran fine for about three or four months.

Yesterday he called me because the car wouldn't start again. Again we
pulled the distributor cap to find that the new rotor button and contacts on
the cap were corroded. Though not as bad as the first time. Still they
were corroded bad enough that the car wouldn't start.

Why would these parts corrode that fast? We do live in a high-humidity
environment, but his is the only example of this I've seen. Is there some
sort of seal on the distributor cap that we missed? There wasn't one on it
to begin with, but that could have been ham-fisted by a previous owner.

This one is real a head scratcher for me. Any suggestions are appreciated
or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

 

There is an O-ring that fits into the channel of the distributor cap. The
distributor cap should have come with one.

 

Thanks, I thought there might have been something like that. I'm sure the
cap was a cheap aftermarket unit and it may not have had one. I'll check
that and see. He'll be calling me again soon I'm sure.

Thanks a million

Mike

 

Bad boy, D'Funk.

You have posted two separate messages to two separate groups with the same
subject. (rec.autos.makers.honda is the other one)

Not only can neither side see how the thread has evolved, but posters in
one can't be educated by messages in the other, and cannot correct mistakes
in the other messages.

You should have cross-posted.

 

Sorry, Sometimes people in other groups get mad if you do cross post. They
say it attracts spammers. Next time I'll cross post it for auto
groups....<blush>.