Rep Power: 0

From a cold start, my '89 Civic starts and runs just fine - on a short trip (say 15 minutes). If I shut it off, I can usually restart it right away, no problem. However if I let it sit for 15 minutes or so, then try to restart it, it cranks REALLY slow, misfires and won't start (like the cylinders are fighting each other). The battery's brand new, with plenty of juice.

So the next time it happened, I disconnected all 4 plug wires - it cranked nice and fast, no resistance. This leads me to believe that the ignition timing is getting messed up once the engine warms up. I think the coil's fine, because the plugs are firing when the wires are connected.

I'm thinking it could be a bad sensor that acts up when it gets warm. My prime suspect is the TDC/Crank Sensor. Does anyone know if the TDC/Crank Sensor can fail when warm? I've also read that this problem could be caused by an intermittent fault in the TDC circuit on the ECU board. I'm open to any other possibilities anyone might have.

As I understand it, the TDC Sensor is located insider the distributor. I called my local Honda dealership and they couldn't find a part number for the TDC Sensor and told me it's part of the distributor sub-assembly, which I'd need to buy for $345 (to get the sensor). Here are my questions:

Has anyone changed out a TDC Sensor in an '89 with a 1.5L engine?

If so, were you able to buy just the Sensor or did you have to swap out the whole distributor sub-assy?

How much work is it to change the TDC Sensor, or the whole distributor assembly?

Does anyone have a part number for just the TDC Sensor, or know where I might find one?


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

AA_Sharky