91 civic crank angle senor
 

i recently did a head gasket on this car and replaced the timing belt.
upon successfully starting the car and adjusting the valves, i took it
for a drive.

at idle it runs fine. about 2 minutes into the drive (not sure if this
is time or speed related) the check engine light would go on
simultaneously as the car would lose power - as though a cylinder
stopped firing.

after getting home, i check the ecu. it claims a crank angle sensor
fault. this is located in the distributor, which is only a few months
old, and is unreplaceable according to chiltons.

if i clear the code by pulling the hazard fuse for 10 seconds or so,
the car starts up and runs great. again, it idles fine, take it for a
drive, about 2 minutes later, bam, check engine and power loss.

now, the ecu has been known to be wrong before. any ideas?

thanks so much.