JoeWolfe

My mechanic replaced the distributor 1 month ago and the replacement would not work due to a bad ignitor. They sent me a replacement for the replacement. Now this is the third distributor which has failed due to an igniter failure. I hear they don't replace the igniters with new ones just recycled ones that still work.

? What could cause the igniters to fail in replacement distriburtors. 83 civic hatchback 1500 auto 83,000 miles.

The mechanic replaced the igniter with one he had in his shop and the car runs now.

I can only guess at bad coil or bad wires or bad ground but I have no clue.

Please advise. Joe.

ezone

You answered your own question already:Aftermarket distributors are CRAP. Keep trying until you get a good one. You might have to try half dozen before you get one good enough to run the engine.
Don't forget to put the O ring on if they don't come with one.

None of the rebuilders are gonna spend the money to get a high quality OE igniter, it does seem like some rebuilders only scrounge the still working pieces from several cores until they can assemble one that halfway works. Half of those don't really work right either.
It gets worse when there are several signal generators mounted inside one dist housing on later cars.

And when trying to repair the cars, nobody ever wants to spend the money it takes to get a high quality OE igniter (most people don't want to spend a bunch of money on such a little part for such an old car), so you get the cheapo discount made in China junk from the parts stores that won't last half as long as the original did.

It says a lot when that igniter was the main part in a distributor that goes bad, it's the only electronic part in the dang thing, the rest of it is mechanical and other than getting gummed up or the vacuum pod leaked, it was pretty reliable....and the rebuilders don't have a way to stress test the igniter.




If this isn't a style of igniter that was recalled back in the olden days, igniters used to get iffy starting around 60k but some could last 180k or more.
Very hit or miss as far as when they will quit, but they all seemed to quit sooner or later.

If your distributor was designed with the igniter mounted to the movable breaker plate, your wires could be broken inside the insulation inside the distributor.

If you are really crafty you might see if you could adapt a GM HEI ignition module to replace your igniter. I've seen it done with other cars. You could probably google that one.
If the igniter in my old Mazda truck craps out, I'm gonna try to adapt an HEI module to it.

JoeWolfe

Replaced distributor again. Also replacing plug wire set, voltage regulator, and coil. Original coil and regulator. Some person said voltage regulator bad and let 15 plus volts into ignition module and fried igniter. Also Honda manual says don't let any wires touch distributor wires or it will fry igniter module. They were loose. I am replacing plug wires cause they are OLD. Coil was original equipment from 1983. Regulator too. Rockauto replaced the distributor free again. Good guys.

ezone

I doubt this is what happened.
You could put a voltmeter on....maybe connect to the power outlet in the dash and and watch charging voltage as you drive around to see if it really is a problem.