distributor cap/rotor causing pre ignition??

[tyler]

so my car has been making a slight knock which i believe is pre ignition, but now my car wont start it cranks but no start. its getting a little bit of spark to the plugs, i took my dist. cap off and it has small cracks on the mounting holes, the terminals are ground down a bit, the rotor terminal is burnt and the carbon button is broken and burnt, so im guessing the spark was just arching from the coil to the rotor terminal (when it was running) my question is, could that be the cause of pre ignition?

thanks i appreciate any help
95 accord lx
4cyl. A/T

Topic

[Lorrin Barth]

I suppose it is possible. The thing is, the description you give us of your distributor makes me think it needs some love. So, get it fixed up and you will know if preignition was caused by the distributor.

[Ingvar]

And what exactly is “so my car”? As this varies from a vehicle to a vehicle. But anyway, at expense of about $20 you can easily replace all those parts.
Not sure what “carbon button” is though?
Knock is also caused by crappy petrol peeps buy to save money. Should you be tanking at CircleK, AM/PM, Arco, that type of gas stations…
Also, get a bottle of soapy water and have your engine started/cranked in a pitch black place, hood open. If it starts and runs roughly, spray soapy water onto plug wires and dizzy. Should you see arcing, you have leaking wires. If it won’t start but only cranks, you need helper to do so.
And “a little bit of spark” won’t start your engine. You either have SPARK or wasting time.

[Author]

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