5k dies on highway - volatile dist caps

[Livolsi, Stephane]

That's pretty interesting... any idea what made it blow?

I had a similar situation after washing my engine once, except my explosion
was inside.  I hosed the engine off at the car wash and it started up fine.
went straight from there to the park, 1/2 hour later go to start the car and
while it cranks just fine, there isn't even a hint of spark - no catching,
coughing, etc.  Just simply won't start.  I assumed that there was some
condensation in the dist cap from the car wash, pull it off and notice
little pieces of dist cap kicking around.  It looked like the center
terminal literally exploded.  I figure that some moisture did get in between
the terminal and the cap, and when it sparked it turned to steam and
expanded rapidly enough to shatter it.

Stephane

> ----------
> From: 	B Vibert[SMTP:blur at sympatico.ca]
> Sent: 	January 31, 2003 3:06 PM
> To: 	Quattro
> Subject: 	5k dies on highway
>
> Ok, so I just push the clutch to put it into 5th after pulling onto
> the 401 and the engine dies.  Great.  I coast to the side and pop the
> hood.  The coil wire is off the distributor cap, with a little bit of
> the charred cap still stuck in it.  Luckily it still fits back on,
> kinda and I can restart.
>
> I stopped at the only auto parts shop in town that stocks Bosch but
> they have none in stock.  Price would be about $20 but only here on
> Monday.  I checked at the local Audi dealer, $45, zoiks, I guess I'll
> wait or drive the truck for the weekend.
>
> Burl Vibert
> 1987 5kcstq
> Kingston, Ontario
>