NG Warm Up Stumble

[Brett Dikeman]

On Sep 8, 2006, at 12:19 AM, Huw Powell wrote:

>
> great post, saves me thinking about it and replying...
>
>> 5. OH yeah, one more item. Remove your distributor cap and have a  
>> real good
>> look inside with magnifying lens. Look for carbon tracks between  
>> electrodes.
>
> If your dist cap/rotor is more than two years old, replace it.  My .02
> They are cheap and easy, and when they get old, they screw  
> everything up.

Amusing anecdote: my 200q20v kept running even when the distributor  
cap was totally trashed.

When it finally occurred to me to check there to solve an occasional  
misfire at idle (and I couldn't remember having replaced the cap or  
rotor...ever...) the bakelite around the center button (which was  
gone, who knows where) was cracked/chipped and scorched, and the top  
of the distributor rotor felt like the surface of sandpaper; I had to  
use some aggressive rouge to remove the carbonized buildup (I didn't  
have a spare rotor; I did have a spare dist cap hanging around.)

I was astounded the car ran at all- and 200q20v's are supposedly  
finicky ignition-wise.  It did run better with the new cap,  
however :-)  Which reminds me that I should probably check on both  
cap and rotor to make sure the old rotor didn't eat up the new cap's  
button...

Brett