Distributor got fried

Well, some of you may already know but for those of you who dont, my car died Saturday night. I thought the engine finally bit the dust since its got 201,000 miles on it but i took closer look today. I took off the distributor cap and found that the internal ignition coil thing was just burnt to a crisp. Looked like there was almost a mini explosion in there! The cause was most likely a loose rotor screw cuz it was real loose and wobly when i looked at it today. So, just a heads up to you all, keep an eye on that screw, its definitly a notorius problem in our civics/crx's and can cause some major problems.

Yeah, I've had mine fall off before... Highly recommend some Loctite on that screw.

do you mind posting some pics of it?
and also how do u take the darn thing off?

Originally posted by 91civichatch2571
I took off the distributor cap and found that the internal ignition coil thing was just burnt to a crisp. Looked like there was almost a mini explosion in there!

Exact same thing happened to mine... and the rotor and screw were lose.
just replaced the cap, rotor, and coil and everything worked fine... until the bearings in my distributor went out at least :rolleyes:

sorry, I dont have a digi cam to take any pics of it but trust me, its ugly. But to make sure yours its tight, take off the distributor cap by removing the 4 screws on the outside. When thats offlook at the rotor (the thing sticking out with an arm coming off of it). On the shaft of that rotor there is a screw that i think needs a square screwdriver if i remember correctly, just make sure thats nice and snug and the rotor doesnt have any play. I got a new cap and rotor so now i just have to go to the junkyard this week and get an ignition coil.

Thanks for the heads up:cool: