Is installing a new distributor on a 96 Honda Accord as simple as placing it in and making sure the spark plug wires are connected in the correct firing order? I've seen different videos where they just do that or others talk about timing and TDC. Is there a specific way to install the distributor that I should be aware of?

 

About that easy.

Make note of where the dist rotor is pointing on the old one before removing. I personally remove the cap with the plug wires still attached, if you have the external coil - remove the coil wire. Then when you install the new dist be sure the dist rotor is pointing in the correct position.

 

My distributor cap is pretty bad so I have to swap it with the new one. Yeah sounds really easy. I'll give it a try when the part comes in tomorrow. Any other advice is welcomed. Thanks.

 

Again, leave the plug wires on the old cap....you have a ref when you install the new cap and then transfer the wires, one at a time, to the new cap.

 

Ok so that's where you were going with it. I was just gonna mark them down with tape but that's a good idea as well.

 

When I took off the distributor I noticed there was a lot of oil inside the engine where it's placed. Is there supposed to be oil there? Should I clean the oil out and how would I go about doing that?

 

Perfectly normal, don't touch a thing in there. It's an engine, there's supposed to be oil in there, you know that right?

You're looking at the camshaft, the distributor plugs into the camshaft so that as the camshaft spins the distributor shaft spins, spinning the rotor and "distributing" the electricity from the ignition coil to the proper terminals on the cap.

It's already too late but when you were taking the old distributor off did you mark the position of it relative to the engine like Poorman said? Because if you install it in a different rotation you may have issues. On some models the distributor affects timing if you rotate it left or right (imagine standing to the side of the car, facing the distributor cap and rotating it clockwise or counter-clockwise from where it mounts), which advances or retards the timing. Notice how the engine has circular holes where the mounting points for the distributor are but on the actual distributor itself the holes aren't circles? That's so you can rotate it while the bolts are on the engine. When I took my distributor off I made sort of an outline on the engine using a marker or something so when I put it back on all I had to do was slightly snug up the mounting bolts and then rotate the distributor until the distributor matched with the outline I drew on the engine and then I torqued the bolts down all the way. The outline is sort of like a chalk drawing at a crime scene. If you have that chalk drawing you know roughly where the body was, same principle here.

Also did you have the cap off before you took the distributor off? It's good to know which way the rotor was pointing because the end of the camshaft you see in the picture is slotted/keyed and the slot is slightly offset so really the distributor can only go on two ways, the correct way and the wrong way. A lot of people end up putting the distributor on with the key in the slot the wrong way because they take a glance at it and think it looks like the slot is in the center so it doesn't matter which way it goes on. Take a look at the key on the distributor end that mates with that slot and you'll notice it's slightly off-center. Make sure this piece lines up correctly with the slightly off-center slot on the camshaft. Notice in your picture above that the line slot is actually closer to the side opposite the "4B".

 

Well the reason why I got a new distributor was because the mechanic said it was leaking oil so I didn't know if that was what he was referring to. Yes I made sure I had the rotor in the same position as the rotor on the old distributor and installed it. The car started up fine and I was able to drive it. Thanks a lot for the help guys.

 

There are two kinds of oil leaks here. One inside and one outside. The outside one is easy because you can replace the O-ring rigfh where the distributor mates with the engine and it's cheap from Honda.

The inner one is slightly trickier but I did it a couple of years ago and I thought it was an easy job. The hardest part is probably finding the inner oil seal. I think I paid about $9.00 for it.

Don't feel too bad though, if the distributor was leaking oil for a while it probably trashed the parts inside any way, rotted and cracked everything from oil exposure. A new distributor is a good thing. But next time you should look into whether you can just repair a part next time instead of replacing it. It's fun, you'll learn something and maybe save money.

 

Good advice from MessAround.

Only thing I would add is to check fit of distributor base to cylinder head. If you installed distributor key into camshaft drive correctly, the distributor will fit flush to the cylinder head. If installed off by 180, the distributor will be cocked slightly at one position.

good luck