Are bad igniters in new distributors common, or am I just special?

[hefaestos]

So, last weekend, after coming to pick up my car from an oil change and having it fail to start (engine turned over fine, it just never caught and started; completely new problem, never seen it before), my mechanic winds up putting a new distributor in. I'm a little peeved about this anyways, since he put in a distributor 2.5 years ago, but whatever.

I drive off and, lo and behold, I start having the exact same issues I had with the first distributor he put in (see thread here. tl;dr - jumpy tach, engine guttering on acceleration, replaced the ICM and fixed it). I have not replaced the ICM yet because I'm planning on taking it back and bitching (because a) this distributor isn't working and b) I'm not convinced it was the problem in the first place).

I realise sometimes parts just don't work. But it does seem weird to have the same problem on two new distributors 2.5 years apart. Is this a common issue, am I just spectacularly unlucky, or is there something else I should be looking into? (Are there brands of distributor that should be avoided?)

[deevergote]

It's possible, but definitely not common. Where the distributors cheap brands? Cheap parts are more likely to fail.

[cb9love]

It's possible, but definitely not common. Where the distributors cheap brands? Cheap parts are more likely to fail.

i have had the bad igniters from the autozone distributors .

[thumping_accord]

Haven't had any bad ignitors; however, I did have a brand new distributor from O'rielys that had loose wires internally. Tried to bring it back but they wouldn't take it cause it had been "tampered with" aka. my mechanic took it apart to figure out what was wrong. Last thing I bought from there....

[cp[mike]]

stupid ignitors always go bad. I keep a spare or two in the glovebox. Never had new ones go bad though, I always just use Used ones from the junkyard.

[johnl]

stupid ignitors always go bad. I keep a spare or two in the glovebox. Never had new ones go bad though, I always just use Used ones from the junkyard.

Ignitors are killed by excessive heat. Where they live is inherently hot, but they also generate internal heat due to being an electrical device. They get hotter if the electrical energy being fed into them can't 'flow' through easily. If the ignition leads have excessive resistance then ignitors get hotter than they are designed to cope with, because X energy is still passing into the ignitor but not as easily passing through it. The resistance in the leads is like an electrical log jam, energy 'backs up' and manifests as heat in the leads, but also as heat in the ignitor.

I had one fail soon after I bought my CB7. The replacement died a few weeks later. Sure enough the leads were way out of spec with excessive resistance. Changed the ingnitor, changed the leads, still going strong years later...

[Fenris]

I've held on to the igniter from my '91 Civic as every one that I bought, or that came in a new distributor, wound up dying within a year. The factory original igniter always seemed to hold up.

[GhostAccord]

The distributors that you buy at the generic parts stores are listed as "New" but there is usually a */Note attached that will reference the part being a REM or Remand/Re-manufactured part. These cheaper remand parts very rarely, if ever, use quality electronic replacement parts. That is why they are so cheap. I have had a few "new" remand parts with failed electrical components in them out of the box.

When it comes to ignitors for our cars, you can't beat TEC. May coast a bit more but they won't leave you stranded, or needing to carry spares in the glove box.

[Grey_cb7]

stupid ignitors always go bad. I keep a spare or two in the glovebox. Never had new ones go bad though, I always just use Used ones from the junkyard.

Lol! I keep 4 in my glove. 2 from a 90-91 and 2 from a 92-93

[johnl]

Lol! I keep 4 in my glove. 2 from a 90-91 and 2 from a 92-93

If you're finding them that unreliable, check your ignition lead resistance.