My civic only starts when i tap on the distributor while cranking....?????

Asked by Thomas Feb 15, 2015 at 10:19 PM about the 1998 Honda Civic Coupe DX

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 98 civic y8 v-tec coupe, i just changed the coil which helped but now the car
will cut off after idling for a few minutes and sometimes the car will cut off completly and
i have to get out and bang on the distributor while my buddy cranks it and it starts right
up the rotor button looks 60% and so does the cap but they dont look bad enough to
cause an issue like this...just put new plugs, new wires, fuel filter and fresh oil change
alont with new ignition coil and ignition fuse. Please help!!!!!!!

8 Answers

3,135

first thing I would do is remove the distributor cap and make sure there are no loose connections especially the igniter which is the ignition control module. If there are no loose connections then I would remove the distributor from the cylinder head and mark the position of the keyway on the shaft. Then rotate the shaft and make sure there is no rough grinding or anything like a bad bearing. If the shaft does not spin freely and smoothly in the bearing inside the distributor is bad and causing the shaft to seize. You would need to replace your distributor. When I worked for Honda I had seen this many times.

Best Answer Mark helpful

and yes it comes on but when i cut the car off and cut it back on it goes off

if i get into the gas its almost sure to break down on me, i know its not a race car but i should be able to abuse it alittle without it going haywire, i also just changed the 40amp ignition fuse aswell

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