Distributor has failed 3 times in less than a year

1999 HONDA ACCORD
46,000 MILES • 2.3L • 4 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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DALEJ431
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This car has always been reliable until last August when it failed to start. We had it towed to the local AAA shop and they said it was the ignition. They replaced the distributor, wires and plugs. 3 months later the same thing happened. Again, towed to the AAA shop where they said it was the distributor again and put in one from a different supplier without charge. However, yesterday it failed again -- this time stopping on the road. We had it towed to the local Honda dealer this time. Once again tested showed it's the distributor.
Now I'm wondering if we have more than just bad aftermarket parts. Can you think of anything else that could be at play here?
Jun 21, 2014 at 8:56 AM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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What in the distributor is failing?
Jun 21, 2014 at 8:23 PM
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DALEJ431
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The first two times I was just told that it was the distributor and it was replaced. At the dealer this time I was told that the igniter failed but that the coil also needed replacing.
Jun 23, 2014 at 7:07 AM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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Funny, both usually don't go bad at the same time. Did they replace the entire distributor again this time?
Jun 23, 2014 at 7:44 PM
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DALEJ431
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No. This time they are replacing only the coil and igniter. They said that everything else looked okay.
Jun 24, 2014 at 8:28 AM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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That makes sense, I thought they wanted to replace the distributor again.
Jun 24, 2014 at 7:21 PM
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DALEJ431
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It's running fine now so I guess I just had some bad after market parts.
I just wanted to make sure that I'm not missing anything else that could be going on. Thanks for your replies.
Jun 26, 2014 at 8:47 AM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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Glad to help. Let us know if you have questions in the future.
Jun 26, 2014 at 7:05 PM
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