Honda Car Forum

It was my ignition switch on my 94 GSR.
Took it apart. Cleaned contact points with wire brush.
Reinstalled with in 30 mins or so. Saved $30 from local
Acura Dealer. Been driving for months now with no reoccurance.

Hope it helps

"Bruce Baxter" <baxterb@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:3f554ca8.7965178@news2.localnet.com...
> My sister-in-law's '94 Integra has been having some electrical
> problems. First, it would run rough on occasion, and now will not
> start at all. My father-in-law had the thing towed to a local garage,
> that doesn't specialize in Acura/Honda. They're telling him
> everything they see tells them the Distributor at fault, and he's
> asked me to research this and perhaps talk to someone who knows
> Acuras. The car has no spark.
>
> I've driven VW's for 15 years and know my way around their engine
> management systems and peculiarities, but don't know many particulars
> about Acura/Honda. I think of Acura/Honda and many of the japanese
> cars as highly reliable, but expensive to repair when broken. I am
> somewhat of a rabid VW aficianado, but I have to admit the Acura is a
> blast to drive if you're willing to squeeze it.
>
> I've read up in this new group and feel pretty good that the problem
> is most likely something related to either the distributor or the
> 'main relay'.
>
> Is there a way to diagnose which component is failing? i.e. how do I
> know if it's the main relay, the ignitor, the coil, or the distributor
> as a whole?
>
> Is that which I see referred to as an igniter the same as a coil?
> Where are these parts located?
>
> If the ignitor (or coil) is truly bad, is it better to replace the
> distributor as a whole? i.e. Do I derive any tangible benefit from
> replacing the whole assembly, rather than just a failed component?
>
> Any recommendations on where to buy parts? I've found distributor
> housings on the internet for ~100, but that would seem not to be a
> complete distributor, which seems to retail from about $220-$300.
> I've got a local Bap-Geon store I deal with a lot on my VW's. Wonder
> if they offer any advantage over the likes of Autozone/PepBoys/Advance
> and their ilk.

where is this switch located?


Robert
"EJ" <ej@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c9KdndArG-XrusuiU-KYvA@comcast.com...
> It was my ignition switch on my 94 GSR.
> Took it apart. Cleaned contact points with wire brush.
> Reinstalled with in 30 mins or so. Saved $30 from local
> Acura Dealer. Been driving for months now with no reoccurance.
>
> Hope it helps
>
> "Bruce Baxter" <baxterb@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
> news:3f554ca8.7965178@news2.localnet.com...
> > My sister-in-law's '94 Integra has been having some electrical
> > problems. First, it would run rough on occasion, and now will not
> > start at all. My father-in-law had the thing towed to a local garage,
> > that doesn't specialize in Acura/Honda. They're telling him
> > everything they see tells them the Distributor at fault, and he's
> > asked me to research this and perhaps talk to someone who knows
> > Acuras. The car has no spark.
> >
> > I've driven VW's for 15 years and know my way around their engine
> > management systems and peculiarities, but don't know many particulars
> > about Acura/Honda. I think of Acura/Honda and many of the japanese
> > cars as highly reliable, but expensive to repair when broken. I am
> > somewhat of a rabid VW aficianado, but I have to admit the Acura is a
> > blast to drive if you're willing to squeeze it.
> >
> > I've read up in this new group and feel pretty good that the problem
> > is most likely something related to either the distributor or the
> > 'main relay'.
> >
> > Is there a way to diagnose which component is failing? i.e. how do I
> > know if it's the main relay, the ignitor, the coil, or the distributor
> > as a whole?
> >
> > Is that which I see referred to as an igniter the same as a coil?
> > Where are these parts located?
> >
> > If the ignitor (or coil) is truly bad, is it better to replace the
> > distributor as a whole? i.e. Do I derive any tangible benefit from
> > replacing the whole assembly, rather than just a failed component?
> >
> > Any recommendations on where to buy parts? I've found distributor
> > housings on the internet for ~100, but that would seem not to be a
> > complete distributor, which seems to retail from about $220-$300.
> > I've got a local Bap-Geon store I deal with a lot on my VW's. Wonder
> > if they offer any advantage over the likes of Autozone/PepBoys/Advance
> > and their ilk.
>
>

"Rob" <labud@hvc.rr.com> wrote in
newsQN5b.84061$Sq.16597397@twister.nyc.rr.com:

> where is this switch located?
>
>
> Robert
> "EJ" <ej@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:c9KdndArG-XrusuiU-KYvA@comcast.com...
>> It was my ignition switch on my 94 GSR.
>> Took it apart. Cleaned contact points with wire brush.
>> Reinstalled with in 30 mins or so. Saved $30 from local
>> Acura Dealer. Been driving for months now with no reoccurance.
>>
>> Hope it helps

You don't know where the ignition switch is ????
--
Jim Yanik,NRA member
jyanik@kua.net

the keyed ignition?
"Jim Yanik" <jyanik@abuse.gov> wrote in message
news:Xns93ECD06F386D9jyanikkuanet@204.117.192.21.. .
> "Rob" <labud@hvc.rr.com> wrote in
> newsQN5b.84061$Sq.16597397@twister.nyc.rr.com:
>
> > where is this switch located?
> >
> >
> > Robert
> > "EJ" <ej@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:c9KdndArG-XrusuiU-KYvA@comcast.com...
> >> It was my ignition switch on my 94 GSR.
> >> Took it apart. Cleaned contact points with wire brush.
> >> Reinstalled with in 30 mins or so. Saved $30 from local
> >> Acura Dealer. Been driving for months now with no reoccurance.
> >>
> >> Hope it helps
>
> You don't know where the ignition switch is ????
> --
> Jim Yanik,NRA member
> jyanik@kua.net

Jim,

You answered this fellows question. I was wondering if you knew the
answer to the original question of how to check out the components of
the distributor to determine if the coil is bad or not.

I got some further information on the car today. Apparently, the
distributor was replaced already within the past year. However, the
plugs, wires cap and rotor were all replaced after the car quit, to no
avail. I find myself wondering if the original wires (after ~180K
miles) had high resistance and made the coil (is this the same as
what's referred to as the ignitor). Please forgive my ignorance of
things Acura. I'm a VW nut at heart. Gotta go put the head back on
my Golf.
On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 00:28:38 +0000 (UTC), Jim Yanik <jyanik@abuse.gov>
wrote:

>"Rob" <labud@hvc.rr.com> wrote in
>newsQN5b.84061$Sq.16597397@twister.nyc.rr.com :
>
>> where is this switch located?
>>
>>
>> Robert
>> "EJ" <ej@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:c9KdndArG-XrusuiU-KYvA@comcast.com...
>>> It was my ignition switch on my 94 GSR.
>>> Took it apart. Cleaned contact points with wire brush.
>>> Reinstalled with in 30 mins or so. Saved $30 from local
>>> Acura Dealer. Been driving for months now with no reoccurance.
>>>
>>> Hope it helps
>
>You don't know where the ignition switch is ????
>--
>Jim Yanik,NRA member
>jyanik@kua.net

baxterb@bigfoot.com (Bruce Baxter) wrote in
news:3f58810d.218017941@news2.localnet.com:

> Jim,
>
> You answered this fellows question. I was wondering if you knew the
> answer to the original question of how to check out the components of
> the distributor to determine if the coil is bad or not.
>
> I got some further information on the car today. Apparently, the
> distributor was replaced already within the past year. However, the
> plugs, wires cap and rotor were all replaced after the car quit, to no
> avail. I find myself wondering if the original wires (after ~180K
> miles) had high resistance and made the coil (is this the same as
> what's referred to as the ignitor). Please forgive my ignorance of
> things Acura. I'm a VW nut at heart. Gotta go put the head back on
> my Golf.


According to my Haynes manual($20) ;using an ohmmeter,touch the probes to
the primary terminals and compare the resistance to the value listed in
this chapter's specifications.

Measure the seconday by touching the probes to the pos primary terminal and
the secondary terminal.(specified at ~70 degF.)

All except Hitachi distributor;
primary R 0.6-0.8 ohms
secondaryR 12.8-19.2Kohms

Civic with Hitachi distributor;
Pri. 0.45-0.55
Sec 22.4-33.6 Kohms

--
Jim Yanik,NRA member
jyanik@kua.net