Beach driving casualty

[Vidar]

Did some 3 am beach driving in Outer Banks last night. As we were coming back to the house I start to sputter followed by a really loud bang, then dead. Opened the hood to find my distributor cap top post snapped off completely! The plastic around the base of the post was disintegrated. Any ideas what might have caused this?
Mopar cap with less than 8500 miles on it.

 

[tr21triton]

DAMN, THAT SUX !!!! never seen that before....

 

[Gilaguy23]

IIRC by design the distributor gear is pushed up as it turns because the teeth are not straight cut. Id be thinking the dist is wearing pushing the shaft up to far and doing what it did. You should be able to grab the dist shaft and pull up and down and have very little up/down movement like under 20th or so. If it was mine Id pull the dist asap and inspect the gears before it take out the cam dist drive teeth.

 

[tr21triton]

I was thinking something like that. the only thing that could cause that is a bearing or something wearing out and allowing the rotor to push up, but figured I'd let someone with more knowledge of such chime in ....

 

[Vidar]

Thanks guys. We are still on vacation but when we get home I will check into the distributor. It’s still the original distributor with 217,000+ miles, so it’s very possible it’s wearing out. I replaced all the other components when I rebuilt the engine at 209k.

 

[Gilaguy23]

Cant say I recall the specifics butthere typically is little play up and down wise. I was thinking the dist gear roll pin shearedallowing the shaft to walk up but I cant see that being possible as It would more than likely spin as well andthrow the timing way off to where it wont worth a poo. if it was just the bushings they generallt scream little a Hunter B having his ass whopped by daddy.

 

[mrblaine]

Cant say I recall the specifics butthere typically is little play up and down wise. I was thinking the dist gear roll pin shearedallowing the shaft to walk up but I cant see that being possible as It would more than likely spin as well andthrow the timing way off to where it wont worth a poo. if it was just the bushings they generallt scream little a Hunter B having his ass whopped by daddy.

The later OPDA will eat the thrust washer between the top of the gear and the bottom of the housing. Once that is gone, it eats the aluminum housing up pretty fast. I've seen them move up 3/16" pretty fast.

 

[Vidar]

Checked it today before making the hour and a half drive to pick up the new cap, and there is less than 1/16” of vertical play, probably closer to 1/32”. IIRC, when I did a tune up in the past, many years ago, I had another cap that cracked at the center post, but it didn’t break off. But I’ve had this Jeep for 19 years, so I may or not be able to remembering correctly. The other thing is I bought this mopar cap from rock auto, so who knows how long it was sitting in a warehouse, plastic could have just gotten brittle with age.

 

[JKP]

One thing to be aware of is that MOPAR is sourcing a lot of these older vehicle parts from China now. I don't know for sure on the dist. caps, but the coils are

I would suggest putting one on with brass terminals such as the Blue Streak or Accel. And those are both still made in the USA.

 

[Vidar]

Update: new cap and rotor installed. Went with a duralast as Auto Zone was the only place I could find in OBX. Starts immediately and runs like a champ again. The duralast is printed made in USA, and the mopar one has no origin markings, so I’m going to guess it wasn’t made in the USA (probably Mexico or China). Here’s hoping this one lasts longer.

 

[CharlesHS]

Update: new cap and rotor installed. Went with a duralast as Auto Zone was the only place I could find in OBX. Starts immediately and runs like a champ again. The duralast is printed made in USA, and the mopar one has no origin markings, so I’m going to guess it wasn’t made in the USA (probably Mexico or China). Here’s hoping this one lasts longer.

As JKP recommended above; source a cap with brass terminals such as Performance Distributors, Blue Streak or Accel.

https://www.quadratec.com/products/55101_60X_PG.htm

https://www.quadratec.com/products/55126_990.htm

 

[Vidar]

As JKP recommended above; source a cap with brass terminals such as Performance Distributors, Blue Streak or Accel.

https://www.quadratec.com/products/55101_60X_PG.htm

https://www.quadratec.com/products/55126_990.htm

You take what you can get when you are 8 hours from home.

 

[CharlesHS]

You take what you can get when you are 8 hours from home.

Oh definitely....
Just recommending that since the Jeep is running; you should consider sourcing a quality one for when that one goes bad.
I only use the Accel, DUI or Performance Distributors cap and rotor in my 1998 XJ 4.0L