Ignitor/pickup coil trick

[jeffcoslacker]

Working on a friend's 1994 Accord tonight, he towed it here, died on the road, restarted after 20 mins, limped off the highway, died again, restart after 10 mins, run a few seconds and die, etc.

Sounded like the kind of thing either an ignitor (ignition module), or crank/cam position sensor would do. Verified what he said it was doing, finally got it to run for maybe ten minutes before it died again.

When it restarted, I was checking connectors and tapping around to see if I could get a reaction...and when I tapped on the base of the distributor sharply with a pair of small pliers, the motor stumbled and died. Having him crank the motor while I tapped on the diz, I could make it start, and cause it to die as well by tapping.

So it seems this might prove useful to others in trying to find the source of the problem....if not for this discovery, I would have had to consider the main relay and fuel pump as possible causes as well....this narrowed it down quickly.

His diz bearing is ok, no powdered iron oxide from a disintegrating bearing in there, but it is leaking some oil through the base, and usually bearing destruction follows. So rather than try to figure out which is the culprit (ignitor or cam sensor), I'll just replace the whole diz and cover it all.

Just thought it might prove to be useful info to someone trying to find the cause of a no-start/stall problem. Sometimes the low-tech diagnostics still work

[somick]

That was the path I went. I have tried to get a cheap one from rockauto, but they sent me a wrong one and afterwards, charged me for the return shipping. Go to your local store. You at least will be able to return it...

Good luck,
Sam

[jeffcoslacker]

Originally Posted by somick

That was the path I went. I have tried to get a cheap one from rockauto, but they sent me a wrong one and afterwards, charged me for the return shipping. Go to your local store. You at least will be able to return it...

Good luck,
Sam

O'Reilly's up the road had one (reman) for $164. Problem solved. A module and cam sensor would have cost nearly $100 if bought separate, so this takes care of several possible issues with one replacement. I'm happy, he's happy, car's happy.