Originally posted by Bogatyr
dlh1999,
Have you ascertained that the noise is coming from the distributor? It's not unheard of for bearings to fail inside, but on a 97? That's a little odd. Make sure you listen closely to the engine when it's making the noise to determine where it's coming from.
If they are replacing the whole distributor body, yes, those prices are not too out of line. I replaced the distributor body on my 1988 Integra a number of years ago and the part was about $200. Now, I suppose it would be possible to press out whatever bearings are in there and replace them, but shops these days just swap out the parts. It's not really worth their time to rebuild something that would take an hour or two when they can bolt on a replacement.
So, what parts were you looking at that were much less? Granted, things like the ignitor, cap and rotor cost next to nothing compared to the body...but I'm assuming that it's the body that failed.
One other thing to keep in mind. Have you taken the distributor cap off to see if the noise isn't coming from something as simple as the rotor?
Bogatyr
Thanks a bunch for the input. The parts I found online were in fact the cap and rotor...but like I said I'm not too familiar with what parts are involved. Apparently the mechanics determined that the noises were in fact coming from the distributor. They said they would take the distributor to a place that rebuilds them...if they found that it was just bearings, they'd replace them ($200 total). However, if other parts were questionable, they'd completely rebuild ($300). I wasn't sure if it would just be easier to let them to what they need to do to it, or to try to track down a distributor online and avoid being without a car for a couple days.