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 Post subject: Burnt and destroyed distributor cap and rotor!
PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:38 pm 
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Location: The little old town of East Grinstead, UK
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My 944 has been off the road for a few weeks while I've been incorrectly diagnosing a non-start issue. The problem originally occurred while I was driving it, but suddenly died. I gave up on my own diagnosis and gave the car the local garage. The pictures appear to explain the problem!

I have had the dizzy cap and rotor off when doing a belt change 2 years ago, and I can only assume that I didn't notice the level of wear at the time. It looks like the wear has become so great that the spark was jumping a massive gap which added to heat until it destroyed itself! Oops. So how should I recognise wear in the future, and how long should these parts normally last?

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 Post subject: Re: Burnt and destroyed distributor cap and rotor!
PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:48 pm 
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Location: Warwickshire
What brand are the parts?

The above happens all too often in the BL circles with contact breaker points (the heel melts), and rotor arms (sometimes they fall apart before then). So much for the owners saying "I can get a rotor arm for £2 off ebay chap"

This reminds me of an old saying...

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 Post subject: Re: Burnt and destroyed distributor cap and rotor!
PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 8:01 am 
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I'm not sure I'll ever find out the brands given the state they're in now. I haven't changed them since owning the car, which is 3 years.

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Alex.
'85 944 mostly working
'83 924 "Yin Yang" cheap track car with another member
'01 Vauxhall Combo diesel van for camping, working, and moving slowly

Computer Problems: At your WITS End? http://www.witscomputers.co.uk


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 Post subject: Re: Burnt and destroyed distributor cap and rotor!
PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 9:52 am 
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Possibly you have oil mist in there which is igniting?

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 Post subject: Re: Burnt and destroyed distributor cap and rotor!
PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:33 am 
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tr7v8 wrote:
Possibly you have oil mist in there which is igniting?


I hope not! I did a full front end oil seal change about 2 years ago.

I gather the real source of my problem is previous owner neglect, and possibly cheap parts.

Still, it would be nice to know how often other others change their dizzy cap and rotor, and what to look for with regard to wear.

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Alex.
'85 944 mostly working
'83 924 "Yin Yang" cheap track car with another member
'01 Vauxhall Combo diesel van for camping, working, and moving slowly

Computer Problems: At your WITS End? http://www.witscomputers.co.uk


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