Hopefully someone can help me. I'm about to change the distributor cap and rotor on my vehicle.

I have two sets of instructions - Honda and Haynes. The Honda manual gives directions for the full distributor replacement which says that the rotor has to face position one (where wire 1 would go). The Haynes manual doesn't. I'm making an assumption here that the rotor should only point to position one ONLY if you're replacing the the distributor and resetting the timing. Does anyone know if this is correct? TIA

 

if you are replacing the cap and rotor, take out the cylinder 1 plug, take a very long rod and place it into the chamber...place a 14mm on the crank pulley and turn it until the number 1 cylinder hits TDC. Then take the rotor and point it towards position 1 inside the dizzy. mite be an easier way, but this is how I did it and it worked out perfectly

 

get a buddy to help you, and pull the number one plug shine a light down the spark plug hole and watch really carefully stick your hand over the hole, have your buddy slowly bump the key and wait until you hear a phhh; tdc.

 

btw, it's a 17mm on the crank pulley.

I've always just taken off the dizzy, turned it, and replaced the rotor, then thrown the dizzy back on. Or sometimes you get lucky and iot's near where it needs to be anyway....

 

17mm...:doh:

 

cool. thanks a lot guys. :thumbup:

 

Just an aside,
at how many miles do people usually replace the rotor? 60K?

 

I just take the cap off and turn the key a couple of times until the retaining screw is visible on the rotor. You can then unscrew the the retaining screw. That screw didn't want to come out for me. I suggest using an impact driver, but it is not neccisary if it isn't stuck.

 

even better- i remember trying this a few years back on a 6th gen civic and i couldn't reach the screw. i just replaced the cap and called it a day. thanks for all the help!

 

exactly.

few quick jabs on turning it over and it'll point in the correct direction.