Can Igniters be fixed?

Well, I just replaced a coil that didn't need to be replaced (I can be an
idiot some times), and found that the igniter was the real culprit. A good
learning experience at any rate.

With the old igniter on my table, I discovered that the top can be taken
off. I realize that it is probably impractical and untrustworthy, but I'm
wondering if these can be fixed. This is just to satisfy my curiosity. Has
anyone every tried? Better yet, has anyone ever succeeded? I was hoping to
see an obvious spot where something was burned or broken, but no such luck.

The igniter in question is from a '91 Civic and has "NEC MC-8132" on the
top.

Thanks,

Jason

 

Don't know if you know this, but--

Take heart. The ignitor and coil seem to fail around the same mileage. One may
also argue that a malfunctioning coil will screw up an ignitor. (I have less
faith in the other way around, though.)

Just humble speculation from another 1991 Civic owner who's seen a few coil and
ignitor failures in her car's 150k life.

You got all the way to the guts? I tried with a recent, old NEC ignitor and
didn't get far until I concluded a large hammer would be helpful.

Is the inside pretty clean-looking? This came up in one of the Honda groups a
few months ago. Some guy posted a photo of his old ignitor's guts. Full of gunk.

Dunno. Lots of people talk about ignitor problems here, so hang on. Or try
searching google.groups .

FWIW, OEM ignitors are said to last longer. (And I'm cheap, but not with
ignitors. Anymore)

 

There was a bead of silicone around the top. I went around that with a
razor blade and scraped some out with a screwdriver. I then pried off the
top. It is very clean on the inside. I think I saw a picture of the one
you mentioned.

Which are OEM? I read that what came in the car was a different brand, but
was replaced by NEC due to failure. NEC is what I got from the dealer this
morning. Which other brands have you tried?

 

Thanks.

The guy who put the photo up posted more detail about the ignitor in the last
several months. See http://www.gcw.org.uk/rover/igniter.htm

He might chime in...

You're right: NEC is the updated ignitor and the one to use.

I don't remember the last brand I had, except it was *not* NEC. Firestone
installed it. Lasted under 50k miles, IIRC, but this may have been related to
coil problems I had.

From discussions before on this, the OKI brand of ignitor does not last.

This the first time you replaced the ignitor? How many miles at each
replacement?

 

On 1/20/04 19:40, in article
JMkPb.21168$, "Caroline"

Yep, this is my first time. I have only owned the car for about 5,000
miles. It is now at 126,000 and is in excellent condition. The distributor
was replaced at 119,000 and I don't know if they would have replaced the
igniter then or used what was in it. Hopefully the one I pulled lasted more
than 7,000 miles! I should say I hope the new one lasts a long, long
time...

 

FWIW, from my experience, they wouldn't necessarily replace the igniter. Its too
expensive.

I think I'm going to replace mine regularly now, at about every 80k miles.

 

I gotta ask. What is an ignitor? What does it do?

I am a mechanical engineer. I know all about the Otto
cycle, but an ignitor?

 

Honda actually calls it an Ignition Control Module, others call it an
ignition amplifier. As a mechanical engineer you probably appreciate the
old style ignition with points in the distributor. The way Honda does
(did?) electronic ignition, the ECU sends out a pulse every time it
wants voltage to be applied to the coil primary (based on solid state
sensors in the distributor housing). The igniter is not much more than a
power transistor that receives this pulse from the ECU and in turn does
the actual switching of power to the coil primary.

I don't know if this is why Honda did it this way, but the wire to the
coil primary switches a fair amount of current, and the harmonic content
is very high. It is a nasty RF noise radiator and by keeping the wire
only a few inches long, neatly tucked into the distributor housing, the
radiation is kept to a minimum.

 

It's what Honda called the ignition control module,that switches the
current thru the ignition coil in place of the old-style breaker points no
longer in use.

here's a pic and some info on one.
http://www.gcw.org.uk/rover/igniter.htm

 

OK. So, what does Chrysler call it?

My mother's 1984 Plymouth Reliant died last year. The local garage
guy said he put in a new ignitor. It worked and didn't cost
a lot, so I didn't worry about except that I thought to myself,
"What the hell is an ignitor?"

Apparently, it is what you call left-over ignition parts that
you don't have any other name for.

 

Honda is certainly not the only car manufacturer that uses ignitors (= igniters
= ignition control module).

I see igniters listed online for sale for 1984 Plymouth Reliants. E.g. see
http://www.plymouthpartstore.com/ , which says they have them for $79 for the
smaller, 2.2 liter engine and over $135 for the larger, 2.6 liter engine (not
counting shipping costs).

This particular site calls the part "ignition control module," but I bet the
exact same part for your car is also routinely called "igniter" or "ignitor."

Lots on the net on the subject...

 

as far as i know igniters cannot be fixed but they are not very expensive
and can be easily replaced if u are good with your hands in tight spaces you
will be fine i did mine on my 91 civic in under 45 minutes. after replacing
all wires and checking the coil and replacing the cap and rotor

 

You can almost fix anything but at what cost? An igniter is actually quite
expensive in my opinion. They go for about $100 each for that little
critter. I've replaced three of those in the past 12 years. I believe the
cost to try to get a bad one fixed is going to be more than it costs to buy
a new one.

I now keep a spare one and a spare coil in my trunk just in case.

 

IMO,if you could find out what component inside is failing,you could
substitute a more robust device(I'm betting a semiconductor is the
failure),save money,and not have to replace it any more.

Or all it may need is the addition of a diode to block the flyback
spike,and protect the switching transistor.(like in a TV)

 

when i replaced mine i took the old one and beat the hell out of it with a
hammer because of all the trouble. looks like it wont be fixed now huh