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Followup To
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Hi Rick, I have an 88 Civic with 168,000 on it. My mechanic just replaced the igniter and coil which was originally replaced only a year ago. Apparently my ex-mechanic did not put back on the leak cover inside the distributor. He noticed discoloration.
What is the function of the leak cover, and can a missing leak cover cause damage to any part of the distributor including the igniter or coil?
Answer -
Ed, I'm not entirely sure the purpose the leak cover. I'm not sure if that would cause problems with the coil or igniter, I've never encountered that situation before. I can say that if it would have caused a problem I would think it would have showed up by now. Was the problem a no start no spark condition. Why was the igniter and the coil replaced? Sorry, RICK
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Two years ago my distributor was replaced due to intermittent no start condition. A year later they replaced the coil and main relay after it started cranking with no start. Shortly thereafter they replaced the igniter due to car intermittently stalling. All parts replaced with Honda OEM. Mechanics were stumped and could not diagnose the stalling issue. Tried replacing ECM but made the problem worse.
I took the car out of the shop and took it to another guy. He replaced distributor again due to low reading of TDC sensor. Car worked fine for awhile. 6 months later car started stalling again after it warms up. He replaced igniter and coil again along with a new harness. At this time he noticed discoloration and the leak cover inside dizzy was missing and never put back on from the original guys. I just got the car back and it's running very well now (except for failing smog).
The reason I'm asking about the function and absence of the leak cover is it's extremely unusual to go through two distributors, igniter and coil in 2 years. Is it possible the absence of the leak cover could have fouled various components of my dizzy? My new mechanic thinks so. I trust my new guy over my original mechanics who were honest but could not diagnose repairs without guessing.
AnswerED, I agree its VERY unusual to have gone through that many components in that period of time. Intermittent problems are the toughest to diagnose and I suspect they did what they could under the circumstances. Like I mentioned before I'm not entirely sure but I do know it's there for a reason so it could be? The main thing is there's one in there now so if it was the issue it has now been resolved so car should be O.K. Sounds like you found a pretty good tech, tough to find nowadays. If there's anything else I can help you with let me know, RICK
