Uh Oh....I can't believe I did this. I hope I didn't just create a huge problem for myself.

I have a '96 Integra and while trying to change out the rotor under the distributor cap I completely stripped the head of that screw that holds the rotor in place. Oh No.... I know these things can get welded in there b/c of the heat, but I had a good screw driver and thought I had a pretty good bite on the dang thing.

Now what? Did I screw up bad? Thankfully the car is still able to run. I just put it all back together and am now scratching my head. Has anyone ever done this before and can tell me what to do?

Apparently it's welded in there pretty good b/c I think this is the same original rotor that was put in the car from day one. Has 102,000 miles on it.

Can anyone help me with this?

Thank you,
MileHi

OH---GREAT SITE by the way. This is my first time to ever post and I can tell I will be here quite a lot. Tons of excellent information.

 

Well I know from experience about stripped screws.. but my idea of using vice grips won't work, but one person from this board suggest using a dremel to make a new groove then use a flat head to take it out. Or going to a hardware store and buying stripped screw removers.

 

Thanks Firebane. I will head up to Home Depot this afternoon to see if I can find something to help me with this. The dremel tool idea is a good one. I might try that first. Thanks for your help bud. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I sure can't believe I allowed this to happen. I like learning things the hard way. Ha!

Thanks bud.

 

had the same prob, and i had just replaced the rotor, i was chasing a no start sit. and thought it to be electrical but it was acctually the timing belt broke, so i kept trying to track down the no fire sit. and had the rotor off to replace the module, then when i figured out the problem and did a motor swap i had to use my old dist. which i then found to be bad, tried taking the rotor off and the same happened to me, never did get it off and wound up pitching it to the side and installing a used dist. but the dremel tool idea is good! i couldn't use an easy out due to the shaft spinning and no way to vise it.

 

Hey MikeR... sounds like you had quite a job going on there with the swap and tossing the dist/rotor. Wow..I hope I don't have to run into anything like that.

I need to pick up a dremel tool from either home depot or wal mart and try to make the head of that screw into a flat head screw so I can use a regular screw driver to try and take it off. If that doesn't work I'm going to try to tap it out.

Man, this is a pain....I can't believe I did this. I almost hate to get in there and star messing with it b/c I dont want to do something to where I damage it even more and have to replace my entire distributor, etc...

Thanks for your help man...