Not even 500 miles ago I replaced my cap and rotor because it was squealing like a pig. I’m gonna have to do it again because it’s squealing like a pig again. I must admit my negative battery connector has been giving me issues because it doesn’t get tight enough and I was wondering if this bad ground straight from the battery could cause me to go through a cap and rotor so fast. If not, what else should I check to see what the cause might be?
Distributor Cap and Rotor Went Bad Again
- Thread starter Beepbeepjeep
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- bad ground battery distributor
I am stg58 on are your sure it's not the distributor? The cap doesn't move and the rotor only goes around because of the distributors shaft. Sounds like you need to drop some grease on the shaft?
#1, use a hacksaw or dremel to cut a sliver of lead out on both insides of the gap on your negative battery connector. That will allow you to tighten the connector's clamp more tightly so the connector is tight again. #2 Find a quality cap & rotor set with brass contacts, not cheap aluminum. That'll get you a higher quality set that more than likely fix the problem. You might have a problem with the distributor but I'd sure install a high quality cap/rotor set with BRASS contacts before replacing the distributor.
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I’m fairly certain it’s the rotor. That’s what solved my problem last time. I’m just wondering if the new one was damaged from a bad ground
I never knew it squealed either but about a month ago I was trying to find the noise and I was like what the heck it’s coming from the distributor so I got a new cap and rotor and that solved my problem. The problem is that it’s come back and I’m wondering why my cap and rotor went bad so fast
I sure did! I believe it was a brass distributor I bought but I’ll check after work.
It was always difficult for me to find caps and rotors with brass contacts. I found that most auto parts stores stock mostly cheap stuff like the those with aluminum contacts.
Not inside the cap. You can put a dab around the exterior boot seating points on the cap's bakelite housing where the spark plug boots seat but that's all I'd put it on.
It was the cheap-o aluminum connections, you think that could cause it to squeak?
Grab ahold of the distributor shaft where the rotor sits and check for any slop in the shaft. Up, down, left and right.
J
Just replaced the 3.9 V6 in my son's Dakota and I sent him to the local NAPA last Saturday for a rotor and a cap with instructions to get brass contacts, 20 minutes later he was back with all brass, shocked the shit out of me.
NAPA is about the only parts store around me I'd expect to be able to find those.
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