I've got a '99 Civic EX that has a "'95 JDM" B16 swap. I did the swap about 2 years ago and havn't really done much to it. The other day I was in a parking garage and noticed a sound coming from the engine bay, and upon futher inspection determined it to be coming from inside the distributor. It sounded like something had come loose and was being thrown around in there. I took it to a local garage (non-performance) and the guy seemed reticent to take on the work because of the motor swap, but he did tell me that what I needed was a new distibutor cap and rotor and that I could do it myself. Well I procrastinated about 24 hrs. too long and on the way home from work the car, from a stop, sputtered a couple of time and then shut off. My question is, is it too late for the cap and rotor fix or did I just screw my entire distributor? Thank you for any input.

 

I would start by replacing the cap and rotor, I don't really think something going wrong with the cap and rotor would cause the rest of the distributor to fail

 

take off the cap and inspect everything closely. if you dont see any damage other than the rotor you should be ok.

 

I took off the cap where it broke down and ther was what looked like plastic fragments in it. Also what specifically am I looking for with regard to rotor damage?

 

is all the broken plastic accounted for as in you know where it came from? I would say that you just need rotor and cap.

 

Did the rotor screw come out?

 

It appears that the plastic came from the "nubs" on the inside of the cap that correspond to the plugs on the outside. This is the first time I've had to deal with a distributor issue so I'm not sure of that nor do I know where the rotor screw is located.

 

pull the rest of the rotor off if any then buy a new one and put it in and put on a new cap and see if it works if it does great! if not then you know you need a dizzy! g/l

 

cool...did that...new rotor...but B16 cap I got from Honda Dealership doesn't fit.

 

try just reusing your old one and see if it runs?