Distributor

[USciVicMC]

hey guys, My car died on my the other day, its in the shop now, they called yesterday, and said i needed a new distributor. They want to charge me $430 total to fix it. if i bought a distributor myself, and bought a haynes manual, will the haynes manual give me detailed instructions? or could any of you give me detailed instructions. thanks alot

[ThunderCat]

yes get a haynes or helms manual. can i ask you,if you know,how long ago before your car had its distributor replaced? also if anyone is reading this,can a bad rotor do that to his car? or only a bad dizzy can?

[ray ray]

just buy the dizzy and install it yourself man it very easy the dizzy will only go on one way just get a manual and mark everything and just take your time you can do it.dont waste your money and youll feel better knowing you did it.

[h22sparkle]

Fuck that shop take your helms then it will show you how to take the dizzy off . First you disconnect the connectors to it it should be 2 plugs . Then there are 3 12mm bolts i believe with washers already ont hem lossen those take the distributor off. But Remember to have some paper towel with you because oil is gonna come out of there that lubes the camshafts so plug it with that. Then take the distributor to the shop they tend to rebuild these so it will probably run you 150-170 at the most just make sure they have a warrantee on it with the trade in.

Then reversal of procedure i just told you. But Also dont forget that when your puttin inside the distributor you take a close look at the teeth on the distributor and look at the camshaft inside and see which part fits dont jam it in there. the distributor teeth have to flush right with the camshaft because if they dont and you try to start the car it will rip the teeth off the distributor. Yes its that strong. on that not dont forget ater you got everything in and started to set your timing at 16 degrees and mark it with a straigh line at the top of the neck on the distributor that holds the bolts at the very top. That why if you have to take it off again for some odd reason you wont have to fidle with the timing.

[i'm the girl]

How exactly did your car "die" - because it may just be the cap and rotor, all of 50 bucks - and not necessarily the whole distributor

well either way youre a hell of a lot better off buying your own parts and DIYing it - thats my basic instinct with anything on a car, especially something as easily accessible as the distributor - and feels a hell of a lot better to learn and do youreslf then to empty out your pockets to some poor sap who wants to charge you 300 bucks for a part and 2 hours worth of labor on something that you can get for half as much in half the time (thats roughly what you're paying your shop for, if its a 430 dollar job!)

just don't forget to disconnect your negative battery cable before you do and remember what everyone else has said about labeling and marking your place as you go and making sure you put it in the right way - good luck

[SteveB]

Reg retail on a dizzy is over 300, and it is *already* at the shop.

[i'm the girl]

honestly i've never paid more then $200 for a dizzy (core charge or not) - new part or new/reman

and i'm not saying all shops are bad, either - just in my own experience, that seems a little high - and you have a civic, right? (thats what your profile says) - even an oem Honda dizzy shouldn't run more than 250 on the high end of things...

[ckyskater733]

thats about what the shop charged me. took them 2 fuckin hours to find the damn problem, and then i just let them do it.

i would do it yourslef if its not much more.

[Granite CB7]

The major part of the dist. is the housing, that's the most techincal part. If you need a new dist., you could buy a brand new dist. housing from Honda. I bought mine for 148 total. But get this, I was quoted (wanted to know for fun) about 550 or something for an entire brand new dist. from Honda, but yet the housing is just 148 Good luck and if you need a new cap and rotor, get those too.

Dan

[wed3k]

yea...350 for a new coil, new housing, new cap and rotor and cap gasket...quite expensive but the car runs like a beauty.

gonna use all the parts for an external swap soon.

[Ghostyman]

Changing a distributor is ridiculously easy on CB7s. Simple bolt off, bolt on. I highly recommend changing it yourself.

Also, did they tell you why it needs a new dizzy? You should ask them. Also, check yourself for oil inside the distributor cap. Just disconnect the spark plug wires (after labelling their position) and unbolt the 3 bolts holding the cap on. Pull the cap off and see if the cap has oil in it.

Good luck with this. Don't worry, if the problem is the alternator, it'll be easy to fix, you can do it yourself, and you'll save a lot of money.