igniter,coil or distributor on 91 Civic??

I have a 91 Civic Hatchback,5spd,1500cc eng. that has run and run. It's got
178kmiles. Over the years I've replaced the igniter and then the whole
distributor about 2 years ago(carquest). Now I'm starting to have symptoms
that I am nearing another problem. After a short drive to a store it
wouldn't start today. It finally did after some praying and being ready to
tow it! It also cut out on me driving home one day, but by the time I pulled
over to the side of the road, the engine was running again.

Q. Should I replace just the igniter for about $90? Or the coil for about
$80? or both? or just swap out the whole unit for about $340 and change from
either Napa or Carquest(the main parts dealers out here in Hawaii.

thanks in advance

Gary
Haleiwa. Hawaii

 

Perhaps...
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#MainRelay

 

Hi Gary

Are you sure you are losing spark when this happens? Intermittent
stalling can happen for a variety of reasons. Maybe put a spark tester
in your glovebox so you can make sure next time.

If you do lose spark, next time you see it fail, put a small 12V bulb
across the coil's primary and see if it flashes when you try to start
the car. If so, it is not the ignitor - check the coil or beyond.

Even if it doesn't flash, be sure to check the connections to the
ignitor.
The ignitor is just a larger transistor - intermittent internal contact
on a transistor is very rare.

Regards,
Remco

 

could be the infamous "main relay" or even possibly the ignition switch.
your igniter and distributor should still be good. should...

 

How expensive is a main relay? If it's cheap enough, maybe I'll replace it
and see what happens...

 

Also note that when the main relay fails completely, there's no
spark since ECU's power derives from the main relay. Since the
igniter's trigger adjusts and resides within the ECU. One other
thing, Helm Service Manuals or diagnostic technicians use the
spelling, "Igniter" unlike what most do, "Ignitor." Ignitor, however,
is the most widly used on Usenet at a ratio of 14:9.

 

"Ropert's Aloha" wrote

Sounds like your fuel pump's cutting out. Most likely from the main
relay or ignition switch as Mike suggested.. I'd follow Tegger's link
deeper. It can teach you how to remove, reflow the solder, using solder
with additional silver.

 

See the article PGM-FI on my website (in sig) which your experience
describes exactly the symptoms I had. Clean up the distributor cap
inside and out before buying anything.

HTH

 

---------------------------------

Slip it out, walk into a TV repair shop with a big box of assorted
donuts / muffins. Ask them to resolder it and you'll be back in the game
for 200,000 more miles.

'Curly'

 

"Graham W" <> floridly penned in

May I link to your site in the FAQ?

 

Take it to a mechanic. The diagnostic charge of $60 will be recouped
several times over compared to your shotgun approach.

Make one mistake like replacing a good ignitor and you'll be out $90.

 

Geeze. Learn how to test it. Instead of pissing away $30 on a part that may
be good, get a meter and learn how to use it.

 

riiiiight. First they'll have to crack it open and likely ruin it.

 

What the hell is the matter with you?! Learn how to test the thing before you
resolder it!

I'm reminded of a friend who had absolutely no diagnostic skills. He had a car
that wouldn't start and he was dismantling the dash. I suggested he check the
air in the tires (as a joke) and next thing you know he was checking the tires.
I took over; checked the ignition by pulling a spark plug and cranking the
engine (ow!), next was the fuel. Did the fuel guage work? Car was out
of gas. Duh... uh... I don't think dismantling the dash did much good.

Just like dismantling the fuel pump won't do much good for a bad ignition coil.

 

Hello TeGGer & group members

Yes! I'd prefer that you embed a link to my front page for the sake
of my page hit counter and guidance to click on 'Miscellanea' then
the 'Rover216GSi' link.

As you will be aware, but others may not, the Rover of this era and
model is the Honda 1.6 ltr SOHC engine and Concerto (in UK) car.
Do you think I should provide extra wording in the second link to
indicate equivalent USA models and, if so, what are they called?

Rgds to all.

 

I was going to simply link to:
http://www.gcw.org.uk/rover/igniter.htm
which is the relevant page. I'm worried that if I link to Miscellanea
people will get lost. Nobody over here knows what a Rover 216 is.

A clarification for North American viewers would be nice.

Honda models as I can remember:
Honda
-----
Civic
Prelude
Accord
Element
CR-V
Odyssey

Acura
-----
Integra
Vigor
Legend
EL
TL
RL
RSX
TSX
MDX

Maybe more? Corrections are welcome.

The Rover 216 is probably Civic-based.

 

You see, that link will miss the home page counter but I do take your
point.

OK, I'll put a page counter on the article itself and then direct
references
will still get counted. (This is only for personal interest - there are no
commercial orgs involved in counting hits other than the counter
supplier.)

Thanks. I'll do a bit of extra intro text on the article page as a first
para
to broaden the vehicles covered to those, as above, which use the
PGM-FI system which should help visitors to realise the relevance.

Thanks

 

Insight
S2000
Pilot
Passport (Honda-badged Isusu Rodeo)
Ridgeline Truck (new)

 

relax cowboy. intermittent faults, by definition, don't always show up
on testing. as the main relay is one of the commonest failures on a
civic that vintage, and the symptoms the op is describing /do/ match
some of those commonly described for a relay fault, d.i.y.
replacement/resoldering /is/ both cost effective relative to taking it
to a shop, /and/ is likely to fix the problem.

 

My experience with the relay was that it was very easy to test. Just wait
till your car won't start, then hit the relay with a hammer while
cranking the engine. Every time I did this my car would start up right
away. I eventually replaced the relay figuring that something that needed
to be hit with a hammer probably didn't have to much more life left in
it.