External Distributor Known Issues

[Hondateck2010]

I know this is the beginner side but I know some here that are new and know more than the old members.

What makes Ext Distributor's go bad?

Does it cause your check engine light to come on when not working right?

Reason for the questions is because My dizzy was causeing my car to misfire and never sent me a code about this. had to change alot before finding out the dizzy was not working right.

it is a rebuilt that went bad (only a month old ) so they sent me another one and works great. just worried it will happen again.

I took some pictures of the dizzy that went bad so you guys can point out what part is what goes bad

[ExplodingCake]

Bad oil seal can lead to premature failure. Happened to me once. Hot oil enetering the distributor housing fried my ICM (Igniter) and stranded me on the freeway. Good thing I had enough air to power my brakes or else I'd be squashed.

It never gave me a CEL but it gave me Battery and Oil light.

From the looks of it looks like you're having moisture? Probable connection to that rust and misfire.

[Teddy]

Bad oil seal can lead to premature failure. Happened to me once. Hot oil enetering the distributor housing fried my ICM (Igniter) and stranded me on the freeway. Good thing I had enough air to power my brakes or else I'd be squashed.

It never gave me a CEL but it gave me Battery and Oil light.

From the looks of it looks like you're having moisture? Probable connection to that rust and misfire.

can you put in a new oil seal ? or do you have to replace the distributor ?

[cp[mike]]

im pretty sure it tends to be the ignitor, since thats pretty much the only electrical thing in there. the inductive pickup coils (those big black blocks) are stationary and see no wear, so they dont typically go bad... and if they did, youd DEFINITELY see a CEL for them.

if a distributor is bad, and it isnt the ignitor as the culprit, then either there is some bad wiring, or you just got REALLY unlucky.

[ExplodingCake]

can you put in a new oil seal ? or do you have to replace the distributor ?

Yes , you can replace the seals.

[Hondateck2010]

im pretty sure it tends to be the ignitor, since thats pretty much the only electrical thing in there. the inductive pickup coils (those big black blocks) are stationary and see no wear, so they dont typically go bad... and if they did, youd DEFINITELY see a CEL for them.

if a distributor is bad, and it isnt the ignitor as the culprit, then either there is some bad wiring, or you just got REALLY unlucky.

I think im really unlucky

This has never happend to me before with any accord I have owned.

Only issues I had is with internal coils and that alway gave me a cel or the car would not start at all. im glad it lasted on me this long and didn't die on me when it started to do this when driving to VA

[CB7 Sleeper]

rust inside that dizzy cant be good

[nblanton]

Rust isn't uncommon, especially that little bit that you have in the picture. The distributors are vented, and the pick-ups are ferrous iron and the rotor shafts are carbon steel. The reluctors are ferrous as well, and will get the nasty red-orange stuff too. There definitely shouldn't be oil in there though. The oil while messy, and another issue that should be corrected, won't cause the ignition system to fail. Oil, after all, is a dielectric substance. Anyone who has had an old points system knows about spraying liberal amounts of WD-40 in to the distributor to get everything working again. Rebuilding them can be a bit of a pain, but is possible. Just be careful not to scratch up any of the aluminum body when pulling the old seals out.