Need ingition control module (ignitor in distributor) for 1995 Civic

I NEED AN ICM. IGNITION CONTROL MODULE
HELP! This is a charity job. $178 is WAY TOO much to spend at autozone!
My local boneyard doesn't have a distributor... gave me a price of $150 to
$200 if they can locate one! WHAT? Well I guess that includes a bunch of
stuff in it that I don't need. If I can locate one myself, I doubt they'll
break out just the ignitor for me.

Some kindhearted fellow Honda wrencher got one of these? It's a 95 Civic
with 1.5 VTEC. My understanding is it's the same part from 94 (not D15B7,
D15B8 OK), 95, 96, 97 (including 1.6) (also VTEC or not), and who know what
else???
Wells number is JP129? I'd pay shipping cost plus a small fee if you gotta
get something for it (charity job for my efforts, I can charge something for
parts if I have to).

Hopefully, someone can help me out. I have yet to check ebay. Owner will
just unload this car if I can't fix it real cheap. I buy complete parts
cars for way less than this! But, I can't wait for one to come through the
auction... not to mention the weather here in New Hampshire right now!

In2hoppn

reply here or reply direct... but not worldpath anymore... it's metrocast
instead...

 

Are you talking about the ignitor? That module with four connections
inside the distributor, right?
I needed one about 1/2 year ago for our Integra and paid about $70
delivered from carpartsamerica.com (there are other places out there
that offer similar prices).

Remco

 

You can use the larger ICM from a Accord in the Civic distributor. It's
larger mass (heatshink) is less prone to failure.

What part of the world you live in??????
You have a D15Z1 (VX) motor if live in USA/CAnada.
The ignitors of all 92-95 Civic's are the same anyways.

$167 from a dealer, Autozone has to be cheaper.

There is a great Acura Dealer in Hew Hampshire.........
http://www.acuraparts247.com/sunnyside/jsp/home.jsp

Here you go, Napa $92.95
http://www.napaonline.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/NAPAonline/search_res
ults_product_detail.d2w/report?prrfnbr=28520386&prmenbr=5806&usrcommgrpid=80
507427

They might be able to get it for you.

 

One more thing -- once you do replace it, be sure to put a small blob
of heatsink compound under the device (Radio Shack); it will help get
rid of the heat. The original one on our Integra did not have any of
this stuff under if and may have contributed to its untimely demise.
Remco

 

I shopped around a little. Autozone is insane with their price on this
item!
This honda is NUTS!
I HATE HONDA.... PERIOD.
(of course, I hate em all, especially whatever brand is currently giving me
a headache at the moment!!) : )

This 1995 Honda Civic LX 4 door sedan says VTEC (pronounced
VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETEK) on the engine.
But, I am now told by someone (who looks to be correct) that 1995 Civic 4
door
never came with VTEC.

Nowhere on the car is to be found numbers that even vaguely resemble codes
D15B7, D15B8, or D15Z1.
Are these just "hat" numbers that get pulled out of books or charts (hats)??
Anyway, I think I have a "swapped" engine in this thing.
Parts stores and junkyards tell me LX, CX, DX are same distributors, EX is
different. And this is supposedly after me telling them this is a VTEC.
But then I see in the owners manual that LX and DX are DOHC (nonVTEC), and
EX is DOHC
VTEC!
For what it's worth (or not), this is a Japan model. VIN is
JHMEG8669SS027974

What exactly is the difference between VTEC and nonVTEC distributors?? End
of shaft? Housing? Innards?
I'm looking at used distributors, I'd prefer to get one that can be
completely swapped in if necessary!

Are the coils the same also?
Ever since I discovered I was hooked on to the + coil lead and tach lead on
the ignitor, (instead of across the primary side of coil where I wanted to
be), I'm no longer
completely confident that loosing the signal when it died means conclusively
that it's the ignitor. I wonder if intermittant coil failure could still be
the culprit. I don't care to hook back up and drive it for another week or
two or month before it dies again! (See thread titled "Need advice... 95
Civic dies and won't start, but then starts and is fine." for more info on
that) My Vantage meter is worth more than this car.

So if someone can tell me how one identifies an actual engine, and/or how
one identifies a certain distributor's application concerns... that would be
helpful at this point.
And one more thing, does the fact that it says VTEC on the engine mean it
really has to be? Or can someone just swap that cover?!?
Thanks all
In2

 

shouldnt it be *somewhere* on the block? like near the tranny bellhousing?

 

There is an engine number on the block near tranny. But it's not an engine
code like these.
I'll have to clean it a little better to get the number accurately, but
haven't found anywhere yet that references that number to engine type.
Thnx for your imput, again!
I was looking at a parts website http://pa.partsandacessories.com (it works
well to list different vehicles and lets you quickly quote part numbers and
prices (steep?)... I found that basically, it's the same coil and ignitor
accross the board, D15B7, D15B/Z8, D16Z6, D15Z1... including Del Sol V-TEC
DOHC 94 - 95 B16A3. Of couse, not Honda anywhere was listed as a 1.5 VTEC,
and D15B8 was not to be found on the entire site! So that's probably the
engine I have in this thing ; ) Another parts site did let me look at D15B8
which is under 95 Civic CX (I'm surfing in one window, typing here in
another!) and it showed coil and ignitor as same part numbers (different
distibutors though).
I guess I can get it figured out. But any more info regarding figuring out
which engine I have from anyone would still be welcome!
Thanks all
In2hoppn

 

The 4-door EX came with a 1.6 liter VTEC engine (D16Z6 ?), as did the EX
coupe and the Si hatch. The VX hatch had a 1.5 liter VTEC-e engine. All
other sizes and shapes had 1.5 liter engines without VTEC.

The engine number should be stamped on the upper front of the engine,
right next to the transmission bell housing.

This is not correct. All the '95 Civic engines were SOHC, with or
without VTEC.

The question is why the specimen at hand, an LX, has VTEC stamped on the
valve cover. A very popular conversion ("mini-me") is to put the VTEC
head from the 1.6 liter on the non-VTEC 1.5 liter. Perhaps that is what
happened? Or it could be an outright engine swap.

This should be a Japanese made (Suzuka factory) 4 door Civic LX with ABS
and a 1.5 liter, non VTEC SOHC engine, code D15B7.

The VTEC head is different from the non VTEC head, so I am not surprised
that they use different distributors. Don't know what the differences
are, though. Are you sure you need a new distributor? The ignition
control unit is replaceable by itself.

The ICU is a known weak spot on that generation Civic.

 

The difference in the dist. is just the mounting legs.

CX/DX/LX non VTEC are the same, the EX/Si/VX are slightly different housing,
but same internals. Either way, they all used the same ignitors.

 

Typo on my part. Manual said SOHC for LX and DX, but did say DOHC VTEC for
EX.

I snagged a nonVTEC distributor on ebay for $30 including shipping. (under
the false title VTEC JDM, go figure)
A little more research seemed to indicate that both ingitor and coil will be
the same regardless. It would have been nice to have a completely swappable
one, but those things are definitely a bit pricey!
A head swap had not occured to me. That may well be the case.
I'll clean up the engine numbers as see exactly what it is. What I
deciphered so far just didn't seem to resemble these engine codes. But I'll
see what exactly it is and go from there... just out of curriosity now.

Also, there is a plug near the distributor plugs (mounted to something on
the head, fuel regulator, maybe??) that is not used. It's a green 2 prong
plug with nothing nearby to plug into it. It's very dirty, so nothing's
been plugged into it for a long time.

I hope I'm not replacing a weak one with another weak one! But this problem
is unique (I hope) in that it dies only when warming up from quite cold
(below freezing). Once it gets past this point by sitting 5 minutes (I
assume that's because heat continues to flow into it from the engine) it
works again and won't fail again. Any problems I've ever seen in the past
with ignitors (Ford and Chrysler) have always been when they get hot. Then
they work again when cooled down, but fail again when hot again. Or, they
quit completely... it's that a little too easy to fix though?? ; ) I think
I'll just replace both the coil and ignitor and HOPE it doesn't bother
again! Then I can go back to hating my VWs, Buick, Pontiac, GMC van, Chevy
truck, Ford Grumman, Wife's Toyota, MTD snowblower,... whatever's next ; )
Or if I make it through to spring, there's always the old
KawYamaZukiHondaDavidson! That would be a 77 KZ 1000 (pronounced ten
hundred ; ) )

thanks all for the help! I'll post the engine numbers!

 

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

I haven't read the whole thread . . . Did anybody remind you about
using the heat-sink past on the backside to ensure heat dissipation?
Same stuff is used on computer processors. I was even wondering if this
was why your original one was failing once it warmed up . . . ?

'Curly'

 

In2hoppn wrote:

There is the smoking gun. At that side of the head, VTEC engines have
the VTEC solenoid valve (an electrically operated valve that controls
oil flow to the VTEC mechanism). On a car born with VTEC, the ECU has an
output to control this valve. If you transplant a VTEC head onto a
non-VTEC block, there would not be an ECU output available to control
the VTEC solenoid valve. This can be remedied with an after-market VTEC
controller or a VTEC ECU transplant.

So, it seems you have an incomplete "mini-me" conversion on your hands,
stock 1.5 liter block and a transplanted VTEC head with the VTEC
solenoid valve not hooked up. What you get is an engine that is fuel
efficient, but does not have the extra high-end HP that the a VTEC
engine should have.

 

Now you've done it! ; ) You just opened another can of worms I wasn't going
to unleash here, when you said fuel efficient!
I can't get 30mpg with this car! Cap, rotor, wires, and plugs all check out
fine. I need to check out the timing, which I intend to do before removing
distributor. So, I guess I really need some advice regarding differences of
timing mark settings to consider if this is a vtec transplant (head or
engine) and maybe a short lesson on what exactly VTEC is?? My impression so
far was that it changes the valve timing?? Now I take it this change is
done via oil pressure??? hmmmm... it might be interesting to know if I can
"hot wire" it just to check it out, but this is really a bit of a junker
honda (body rust and damage) that the actual owner is on the verge of just
unloading it and moving on to something else. Being a good friend of mine,
this is why I'm fooling around with used distributors from ebay. I don't
mind wasting some time and effort (if my bad back allows it occasionally)
but do have to skimp on the money end. I'm hoping to just jumper the
appropriate plug and check the base setting. Also hoping to get a peak at
the timing belt to see if it's off a tooth or looking in bad shape. The
tires are a little oversized for the car, and I've been running only 87
octane fuel. So a couple mpg for each of those issues combined with the
cold weather,... maybe fuel mileage isn't quite so bad. It might be fun to
toy with that vtec control valve. I'm guessing it needs 12volt square wave.
Change in dwell(duty cycle) changes oil pressure which changes valve
timing?? And if that's about right (or even if not ; ) ), it's probably
more inputs than just rpms in deciding advance rate?? Anyway, I better just
get the base setting advanced up enough to begin with. I'm assuming
(there's that bad word again) it can electronical retard the timing for
knock if necessary... the check engine light does stay off as it should.
Thanks to all willing to waste some time here with me! I really enjoy this
stuff. My bad back forces me to remain an amateur though!
In2hoppn

 

Yup, knew all about it. AND, forgot all about making sure to have some on
hand. Thanks for the reminder!
This failure is rather strange, in that it actually only bothers when it's
very cold and in the process of warming up.
Once it gets completely warmed up, it is 100% dependable. I even had to
change the thermostat, as it wasn't running hot enough,... low on temp
gauge, poor heater output, and wouldn't maintain torque converter lock-up on
the highway. New thermostat solved all that. And the only effect on the
ignition failure was that now I only get 2 miles from home instead of 3 to 4
before it quits! WEIRD problem! Doesn't always happen, but when it does
it's always the same situation. But the bottom line is this... it does lose
spark, and it does not loose the 12 volt feed from ignition switch. So I'm
going to swap the ignitor and coil. If either of my replacement are bad,
the symptoms probably wouldn't be exactly the same... I hope!
Thanks
In2

 

Follow the two links at this location:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#engines

 

id guess maybe the original head got warped, and a vtec was readily
available.

 

The VTEC system used on that generation Civic was SOHC VTEC. The exhaust
valves are in a conventional, fixed timing configuration with 2 pr
cylinder. Each cylinder has two intake valves as well, but there are 3
cam lobes and 3 rocker arms driving these two valves. Under normal
operation, the primary intake valve follows cam lobe #1, which has
moderate lift and timing. The secondary intake valve follows cam lobe
#3, which barely lifts the valve. At high RPM / high load, all three
rocker arms are locked together and both valves follow cam lobe #2,
which has aggressive timing and lift.

Nope, VTEC is on or off. Apply 12V to the valve opens up for oil
pressure that locks the rocker arms together. The newer i-VTEC uses the
same system as VTEC for selecting from a set of cam lobes and has added
contiguously variable timing as well.

Yes. There are things that will lock out VTEC operation altogether (like
low coolant temperature). If none of the lock-outs are in effect, the
switch over point varies with RPM and manifold absolute pressure.

You can find the service manual for the car at
http://www.hondahookup.com/manuals/USDM_92-95_civic.zip, the challenge
is determining what timing marks etc. to use with your hybrid engine.

 

It's been a while since I've hotwired something... seems the last thing was
the cold start valve (5th injector) on an 82 VW Rabbit to overcome a cold
start issue... Guess you know what my next thing will be! ; )

Thanks for the link. It's downloaded... I'll get a chance to look at it
eventually. Sounds like it may be better than the UK version manual I've
been using... I hope!

 

Nice link! Summed it up quite nicely! Not nearly as complicated as I
imagined it might be!
How can I NOT hotwire it and just see what it does??? ; )
thanks!