I know this is a stupid question, but does anyone know where the distributor is in a 2004 civic? I looked around under the hood, but all I could find was a wire that came from the alternator to the spark plugs, then joined with all the censors and disappears into the firewall. Is it built into the ECU? The reason I ask is because I want to put a traditional distro on there to make it easier to maintain. Thanks.

 

Umm the 2004 civics are coil on plug. The ecu sends a signal to the coil pack on the plug and fires it that way. The only way to put a standard distributor on is to get an aftermarket ignition system. I'm not sure what companies, if any, make one for it. Try MSD.

 

Easier to maintain? How so? The more moving parts you have means that theres a. More to break, or b. More to adjust incorrectly and screw things up.

If you're looking for a different way to tune your car.. well, ok... but I wouldn't say "easier".

 

people carry parts for traditional distributors. Parts for mine are expensive and hard to find. I forgot to put it on there, but I also want it for tuning.

 

You're joking, right? My RX-7 has a crank fired (distributorless) ignition system that hasn't been touched, aside from timing adjustment, in twenty years. They are zero maintinance, unlike early points distributors and later electronic distributors.

Wanting to go from a crank fired system to an electronic distributor is like wanting to go from an electronic distributor back to a vacuum advance points distributor, it's just a bad idea.

 

the new series of Honda motor is all crank triggered. Honda did this because it is more reliable. in fact with this new system one coil can fail and it will only dissable one cylinder instead of the entire engine, enabling the car to still be driven to be serviced.

 

That's pretty much what it did in the older engines too.

 

how so? if the one and only coil that feeds all four cylinders fails, there will be no ignition at all. what are you getting at?

 

I was thinking further down the line, but yeah, that's true.

 

you cant just add a distributor to that engine.