Distributor Diagnostic

[msilverton]

I am pretty sure that my daughter's distributor has packed it in on her 93 MX3 V6. She can start it but when it warms up or has load put on it, it stalls. It start all of a sudden. Reading from other items in the forums it appears to be the distributor

My question is if I pull the distributor out and can I take it in to a shop can they check it on the bench? I don't want to drop $500 and then fnd out it was not the distributor. Or does this have to be diagnosed in the car?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[lakersfan1]

What happens is a hit or miss thing, so knowing luck, if you take it in, it won't act up in front of the mechanic. The best way to know, is when it stalls and won't start again, IMMEDIATELY jump out of the car and pull the back passenger spark plug boot out the hole. Put the tip against a strut mount bolt and crank the engine. If you don't see a spark jump from the plug boot to the bolt, the distributor needs replacement.

And don't pay a mechanic to do this job, please. Ninjajim's MX stalled on the freeway and I went out and replaced it in the dark in all of 5 minutes work. Jim had the receipt from the previous owner, and the fool got jacked for $150 in labor and something like $400 for the distributor. The distributor I know they bought from Autozone because it's EXACTLY like mine, and it's only $160 at Autozone. So not only did they mark up the distributor price 167% over the actual cost, but they basically charged $1800/hr.

And note that the distributor in the above story broke a second time. So make sure you get a lifetime warranty wherever you end up buying it.

[msilverton]

What happens is a hit or miss thing, so knowing luck, if you take it in, it won't act up in front of the mechanic. .

Or when I go out and check it out. Started fine, warmed up, went for a drive. Got back home.

Looks like I may do the HEI mod as a precaution.

Are there any other symptoms of a distributor problem?

Thanks for the info,

Mike