Is this distributor/rotor in OK shape?

[brad_d]

My wife drives a 2000 Honda Civic LX, currently nearing 60,000 miles. In attempting to be a conscientious little owner I'm trying to periodically check all of the items that my Haynes manuals suggests - including, naturally, the distributor.

Thing is, I've never dealt with one before and so don't really know what I'm looking at when I try to evaluate its condition.

Here are photos of the cap insides and of the rotor (click on the images for higher-res versions):



To my untrained eye, they look essentially brand-new except for those grayish deposits on the leads inside the cap. Is that normal (Do they look that way after 100 miles?), or is it a sign that this cap is getting old? I lack the experience to tell.

Any comments would be much appreciated.

 

[XS650]

If there are no cracks and no burned paths from sparks jumping where they shouldn't, just clean the parts and put it back together.

I wipe mine down with lacquer thinner on a rag. Just about any solvent that doesn't leave a film is OK.

They should be good for another 100k miles.

 

[brianl703]

I just buy a new one whenever I change the sparkplugs. They're $12 for my car.

 

[tom slick]

i wouldn't reuse them. if you look at the terminals on the cap closely they are fairly worn, notice they have a semi-circle worn out on the flat side facing the center.
if you don't have the $$$ right now to replace them you'll get a few more miles out of them. but for optimum performance and reliability change them out.

 

[brad_d]

All of your advice is much appreciated.

tom slick, I was at first puzzled by what you're referring to, and after looking closely at the photos I believe they're misleading.

It does look like there's a cylindrical cutout on the face of each terminal. In fact, what's really there is a buildup of grayish material, in a line across the flat face and edging just slightly around each corner.

I just looked at several other photos I took, and they all convey the same illusion. Having held the thing in my hand, though, I'm absolutely positive that it's some sort of buildup, rather than erosion.

For completeness' sake: These photos were taken about two months ago, and those parts are currently back in service on the vehicle. They're the ones it came from the factory with.

Quick checks of prices at Kragen, etc., suggest that the cap and rotor are in the neighborhood of $20 each for this car. Is it generally considered a good practice to replace both the rotor and the cap, even if only one "looks like it really needs it"?

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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Is it generally considered a good practice to replace both the rotor and the cap, even if only one "looks like it really needs it"?

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Typically both are replaced as a set. The frequency of changing them is so long it just makes sense to change them both and forget them for (seemingly) the rest of time.

 

[Russ]

Wait a minute.

 

[Russ]

Wait a minute. A distributor on a 2000??? I was under the impression that distributorless ignition systems pretty much took over in mid-90s...

 

[Matt_S]

quote:

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Originally posted by Russ:
Wait a minute. A distributor on a 2000??? I was under the impression that distributorless ignition systems pretty much took over in mid-90s...

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Not on every car. On a new engine or major engine redesign, you'll see distributorless, but on older designs, especially where cost is a primary concern, like on a Honda Civic, you'll still see distributors.

 

[Kestas]

You can clean the terminals by scraping the deposits. I can't determine the from the photos, but a common concern with rotor/cap assembly is terminal erosion. If the gap is significantly wider than when it was new, then you have less spark available at the plug -- not a big deal in an engine that runs well, but it can be a problem in marginal conditions.

 

[Virtuoso]

I had a '96 Avenger v6 that had a cap/rotor assmebly that I replaced at 65k. It looked 'worse' than that one and I didn't really notice anything replacing it - but I would do it anyway. Especially if your next 'ignition' service is at 120k.

 

[brianl703]

quote:

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Originally posted by Russ:
Wait a minute. A distributor on a 2000??? I was under the impression that distributorless ignition systems pretty much took over in mid-90s...

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They did on American vehicles.

This isn't an American vehicle.