Went out for shopping, parked my car, came back, the car wont start. The starter is working fine, but the engine wont start.

Inspected the wires and spark plugs, all seem fine. A friend of mine who knows cars came over, we took the distributor apart and he held a metal screwdriver next to the rotor and i tried to start the car and he said there was no spart. He is saying it is likely that the distributor is dead. How can i find out for sure that it is the distributor - b/c if it is, i will buy one online for a lower price, rather than getting ripped off by the dealerships

 

I doubt it's the whole distributor. I would try a coil first.

 

why would you doubt that? Distributor is a big failure point in Honda's.


But Hondaman is right, check your coil first.

 

Are you getting spark to the wires...?

 

Hey, I had the same problem with my Civc. I had parked my car for a couple hours and then went to start it and nothing happend. I checked every thing and was so frusterated. Finley later on I checked all my fuses and it was just a fuse that blew. For just a 30 cent fuse that blew the car wouldnt start. Then after I changed it and it started. I sugest that u should check your fuses and go from there.

 

which fuse was it?

 

well, apparently not, the rotor seems not to generate a spark

 

I was under the impression that the coil was that big failure point in the distributor. From what I've heard, the coil would heat and crack apart internally. By saying I doubt it's the whole distributor, I meant the aluminum housing, shaft, etc. The whole distributor is about $300 from Honda where-as the igniter, coil, cap, and rotor are all available separately at a reduced cost.

 

how can i test the coil to know for sure?

 

true , the coil is usually the problem, but Honda's get bad carbon trailing, which in turn causes the distributor assembly (espescially rotor) to work incorrectly.