I'm hoping someone can give me a quick answer. I'm hunting for what I think is a ignition coil/ICM germlin on my lady's 99 Civic EX, but I'm having trouble getting the dang rotor/leak cover off the distributor so I can test the coil/ICM.

According to this photo there's a screw holding the rotor in place, but I can't seem to find it. Is the leak cover in the way? (photo) Before I go breaking something by just yanking on the rotor, what's the best way to get this bugger off?

 

"Bump" the engine with the starter or turn it by hand (with a socket wrench on the crank bolt) so the screw is at the top. When turning the engine by hand, always turn it counterclockwise viewed from the crank pulley. Unscrew the screw in the side of the rotor. (Easy to say, but often difficult to do). Then pull the rotor off. The leak cover then just lifts out once the rotor is off.

I assume you're interested in doing this because it won't start. Before taking distributor apart do this test. Take a piece of insulated wire and ground one end. Hold the other end near the spring on the coil while someone turns the key to crank the engine. If you get strong blue sparks, the ICM and coil are OK. If you get only weak yellow sparks, it is almost always a bad coil. If the rotor does not rotate, the timing belt is bad.

 

Yeah I found a good how-to on a honda forum forum: http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1972079 and bumped that bad boy so I could get at the screw. Also good to know they're easy to strip.

The reason I'm testing the ICM/Coil is because the car has on 3 occasions just died. Driving down the street and it dies. She says the radio is still on, and the car fires right back up. Like I said, Germlin, and from what I've read here searching it could be the ICM/coil.

Battery, Alternator, spark plugs and fuel pump all seem to be a-ok.

 

Yea those damn rotor set screws strip out really easy. I stripped mine out and spent a long time drilling it out.

 

A problem like that will be very hard to find, as you have to test parts when they are not working, and they are working almost all the time. You almost hope it gets worse so it can be found.

I suggest resoldering the main relay if you haven't already, on models before 1996 the relay is often the cause of intermittent problems.

 

^ Yeah I saw that could be a problem too. Checked over about all the connections and it seems good. It's been well taken care of for the most part, plus it's a 99.

Hoping to find junked up Civic and pull the ECM to get as a cheap spare/replace. Checker wants $100+ for one new. Just have to figure out what year Civics, and I suppose other Hondas, will work.

Any ideas on that?

 

i have a complete obd1 distributor for sale. ill check to see if the icm is the same as the obd2.
mine says e12-303 hitachi on the icm. it has 4 wires that hook up to it. 3 on top and one on the side it looks exactly like the one in your diagram.