A new cap and rotor on a 5th gen prelude. I need to change my plugs, cap and rotor, but I've never done it before. Can somebody post detailed instructions on how to do this? I really need this done as my car hasn't been running real well and I'm already at 37k with stock everything.
**** i changed mine at 70k miles, three bolts 8mm on the cap and one philips on the rotor. make sure you change the gasket on the cap thoe it might stick so you might have to pick it out.
where you at if in orlando fl area ill do it for you.
I don't remember seeing in the owners manual that a cap and rotor was due for a replacement at 37k. Is it due at 37k? I thought it was just the air filter due at 30k.
Oh yeah and I went to honda and asked about the plugs and they said all the 5th gens 2.2L DOHC Vtec come with platinum spark plugs and they do not need to be replaced till like 50k and each plug cost $15 each at honda but nopi is selling them for $10 each.
Last edited by SweetGurlRacer; 01-23-2002 at 09:56 PM.
My car's performance has been lagging lately. I have a messed up suspension and a dirty air filter on my cold air, but all that is getting taken care of. That's part of the problem. Maybe even the whole problem. I drive my car hard and I'm thinking that I might need new spark plugs, new rotor, new cap and new fuel filter. I mean I don't know - maybe you guys can recomment something for me, but a few people with ludes have suggested that I might need those things. I just need some input...
Blacklude98, changing a cap and rotor is a piece of cake. Pretty much like WDW said. Also, and this is SUPER IMPORTANT, make sure each plug wire goes into the right place!!! What I do is I take one plug out, then plug it into the new one, and do each one one at a time clockwise. If you have a service manual, then it'll tell you the correct order to plug them in, but doing it how i did just makes it easier. 37k is really really early to change a cap and rotor though. I'd take it off first and then inspect the rotor tip and the dist. contact points b4 buying and replacing it with a new one. Unless you run in VTEC ALL the time or you run an aftermarket ign, it shouldn't be worn out at all.
Sweetgurlracer,
the spark plugs dont need to changed until 105k. As for teh dsit cap and rotor, it is not mentioned in the owner's manual, but I'd prolly do it at 90k, but checking it every now and hten b4 that to make sure its in good condition.
I run my car hard and I ran it on dirty oil for about 1500 miles. I use vtec a lot and i street race every weekend. Now what do you guys think my problem is most likely. Is the cap and rotor likely to be the problem or my spark plus. The wires looked fine. And if you could provide details on how to check for problems, that would be great.
Originally posted by PilotSH Sweetgurlracer,
the spark plugs dont need to changed until 105k. As for teh dsit cap and rotor, it is not mentioned in the owner's manual, but I'd prolly do it at 90k, but checking it every now and hten b4 that to make sure its in good condition.
I didn't know that, thanks for the info.. The honda guy gave me wrong info.
Ok, here's the story. I run my car hard and VTEC a lot. It seems that lately my car hasn't been running as well as it did before. An Acura 3.2TL-S took me by like half a car a few days ago. And that can't be right cause I have taken them before. Any way - I have a dirty air filter and a messed up suspension, but all that is getting taken care of. I'm just trying to find a solution to find my lost power. Some people recommended that I change my plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter and get injector cleaner. And I don't know which to do because I need to pay for college and cash is low, so I need to do what I need to do, ya know - I can't afford to change all that stuff and realize that the parts I have now were perfectly fine. What do you guys recommend?
Last edited by BlackLude98; 01-24-2002 at 09:13 AM.
Most of your lagging performance is probably due to a dirty air filter, as you mentioned. If you drive fairly agressive or hard like me, you should definitely change your plugs, cap and rotor now. Here's a link to pics from my tune-up with only 22k miles... Tune-up . Decide for yourself how my parts looked.
Going 105k miles on "platinum" plugs is BS! Its more for marketing than proper maintenance. I switched to copper NGK's at $2 each and they seem great so far. You can buy the cap, rotor and plugs online from Manhonda.com or hparts.com for around $35 shipped. You should also consider having the valves adjusted ($65-$100).
You can do easily do the tune-up youself. The rotor is tricky though because you have to crank the engine over to get the rotor screw into position in order to remove it. Also, the srew is torqued quite a bit so be carefull removing it. You may need to use an impact driver, but I was able to remove it by applying lots of pressure as I turned the screwdriver. Make sure you use the right size phillips head..#2 I think.
Awesome. Thanks for the pics...so now what should I look for in the pics to tell me that they're bad. I mean I've never really seen a cap and rotor opened up, so I don't know what parts I should be looking at and for what I'm looking. Fouled plugs are simple, that I'll check out without a doubt. Also - I've heard a lot of people are going to NGK Copper plugs - why is that - cause they're cheap or because they're better. I've heard that they last a short while - so why would anybody buy them?
Click on "full size" to see the pics better. The cap and rotor have metal contact points that you can see are fried..especially the rotor. The plugs simply look tired... not fouled, just worn. Go to NGK's website and they have a great "basic" section on how to read plugs.
NGK ZFR6F-11's are the copper version of the stock platinums. They seem to perform the same to me, but will not last as long as the platinums. I intend on changing my plugs every 10-15k miles anyway...so copper works for me.
Blacklude, I know how you feel, Imma poor college student as well, trying to make thses damn car payments! Def get the air filter situation taken care of, and mebbe do a couple other things b4 you decide to invest money into cap, rotor, plugs, etc. First off, reset the ECU. Either pull the fuse ( I believe the clock/radio fuse) and leave it out for an hour or so, or just discon the battery for an hour. Sometimes the when the weather changes drastically the ECU can misbehave. It doesn't cost anything, so why not! hehe. Next, I'd buy a bottle of a fuel system cleaner. I use STP Total Fuel System Cleaner, silver bottle ( not black bottle). It cost about 8 bucks. It helps clean up the carbon deposits, and may help your driveability and performance. If that doesn't work, do the tune up. When you look at the cap, carefully examine each mteal point and check and see if it looks very worn (rounded edges, chunks or metal missing, etc). For the rotor, see if the metal "edge" looks fairly sharp. If it looks really rounded and/or worn, then replace them.
"Going 105k miles on "platinum" plugs is BS! Its more for marketing than proper maintenance. I switched to copper NGK's at $2 each and they seem great so far."
koollude,
most upper end cars now come with 100k+ mile spark plugs. I doubt that Honda engineers would lie in the owners manual becuase if the plugs crapped out b4 105k, tehn the car's reliabilty rep could be damaged. Also, engineers and manufacterers always tend to quote things on the conservative side, so I bet the plugs can go even longer then 105k.
An Acura 3.2TL-S took me by like half a car a few days ago. And that can't be right cause I have taken them before.
Unless you're in a gear where your VTEC is engaged, that TL-S will take you time and again! Too much damn HP.
I didn't know that, thanks for the info.. The honda guy gave me wrong info.
Sweetgurlracer,
unfortunately, dearlerships do that all the time. they have a "generic" list of preventive maintenance, and they apply it to all cars, even though the cars dont even need it. If you did what they had said, you'd have gotten your plugs changed twice when you only needed to do it once. They make money off you tiwce, so the dealership is happy. I always double check on things they tell me to do, because dealerships are out there to do one thing and one thing only: make money. Always go by teh owners manual. I'll take the manufacturer's word over the dealer's any day.
Oh one more thing bout the whole copper tip vs platinum tip plugs, the copper tip plugs should give you more performance, but you need to replace them more, about 30k miles. The reason being, platinum is not all that great a conductor, but it's wear characteristics are much better than copper. So the spark from a platinum plug is "weaker" than one from a copper plug, but that platinum plug will last 3-4 times longer than the copper. Car maunufacturer's use the platinums as a selling point for cars. "No major tune-ups for 105k miles" sounds good to most consumers, so to Honda and other companies, the slight reduction in performance of the platinum plugs are worth it. If performance is what you seek, don't get platinums. I personally use AC Rapidfire plugs. One of the major car mags did a test on spark plugs years ago between platinum, standard (copper), splitfire and AC Rapidfires. The AC Rapidfires showed a little gain in performance (very small gain, but hey, for a couple of bucks ill take it!). I don't know of any other mag that has ever done a test of plugs, so i just stick to what was proven and use them. Plus they are pretty cheap at Walmart too! I change my plugs every spring. Just to know I have a fresh set in there.
Originally posted by BlackLude98 Ok, here's the story. I run my car hard and VTEC a lot
BlackLude98...I advised you based on the above premise. I stand behind my original comments and totally disagree with PilotSH. My proof is in the pictures I showed you and if you asked many of the known reliable sources here on this board, I'm sure they will agree that if you run your car hard you should do a tune-up much sooner than what PilotSH is recommending. Also, I highly suggest you do NOT put the STP fuel additive into your engine as a "first step" is solving your lagging performance. You should change your filter and do a TUNE-UP. If you can't afford the cost of the parts, you should not be driving a Prelude.
SNIFF SNIFF - I can't be driving a prelude if I have no money. Darn, I thought that if I could afford a car I could drive it. LOL. Any ways - I went out the bought the K&N Filter charger to clean the CAI filter. That I will do tomorrow. Then see how it feels. Then I'll wait till this coming friday (week from today) and have my suspension fixed and allinged because that could be causing the problem too. If that doesn't work - I'll try a bottle of injector cleaner. And after that I'll just get a new cap and rotor from honda and get some nice copper plugs and good wires. Might as well change the whole ignition system in terms of replacement parts. After that I'm guessing only a valve tune-up will cure the problem. And hey, if anybody cares - my car's setup is on hondaprelude.com. Here's the link:
Where can I find NGK Copper Plugs for the prelude. Anybody know a site on-line. Also looking for good and cheap wires for my car. I'm gonna change the cap and rotor and might as well change the spark plugs and wires. So I'm looking for good quality and cheap. If you know any sites, please post.
Originally posted by BlackLude98 Where can I find NGK Copper Plugs for the prelude. Anybody know a site on-line. Also looking for good and cheap wires for my car. I'm gonna change the cap and rotor and might as well change the spark plugs and wires. So I'm looking for good quality and cheap. If you know any sites, please post.
~Alex
goto your local PepBoys and ask for NGK plugs for a 93 prelude Si.
as for running the stock platinum plugs until 105k miles?
i really wouldn't recommend that.
if your car is not running all that smoothly, changing the cap and rotor JUST might help you out a lot. i was having some bad hesitation problems at low RPM as of late, but once i swapped out the cap and rotor the problem dissappeared.
I just changed my cap and rotor yesterday......took pics almost ALL the way through..........if enough people ask about it I'll do a write up.
I'm less inclined to do a write up these days as many people don't bother to search first though.
One note about the write up though.......there's one step missing that I DIDN'T have to do but others may have to do.
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