This is why I give all new trucks a tune up

[Jessie James]

My most recent acquisition was running a little rough, had the smell of gas from the tailpipe, just barely passed smog, and had pretty crappy MPG from what I could tell. I put in some new plugs but that did not make a big difference (other than the fact I discovered two different kinds of plugs in my engine!)

I decided to go ahead and replace the cap, rotor, and wires. Well, the wires were probably fine, but when I pulled off the cap and rotor this is what greeted me ...

http://imgur.com/a/W0YdT

Yes, those are completely corroded, with bits of metal sticking straight out. I cannot believe it even ran. The amount of burned off metal from the rotor tip is amazing.

The difference before and after is VERY obvious. The idle is a so smooth you can barely feel the engine running, take off is smooth and predictable (it used to lurch at take off), it has much more power, no smell of gas, starts up instantly even in cold weather, and it just purrs down the road at 50-60 mph with virtually no pedal needed to keep it going. On top of that, it appears that my mileage has improved drastically. I have driven almost 200 miles on about 1/8th a tank of gas. I will know for sure when I fill it up next time.

I bought it from someone who put on new headers and a new exhaust, clearly looking to get better performance. He only had it for a few months. That means that the previous TWO owners did not do even a BASIC tune up. I got more power out of it for $50 in parts than those headers (although they are nice!)

So folks, this is why it pays to tune up your truck!

 

[sweetk30]

oh you big baby.

scrap them clean/ rinse out and spray down with wd-40 and fire it up and see what happens.

guy i know sold a old mustang to a kid. he did just that and blew the dist cap/rotor clean off the dist when he turned it over.

 

[nsxxtreme]

I'm just curious do you know how to post pictures? You can go to come place like www.photobucket.com upload your photos and then get links to add to you post so they show up in your post without someone clicking on a link.

like so, click reply to my thread to see an example

 

[JPOutfitters]

I'm just curious do you know how to post pictures? You can go to come place like www.photobucket.com upload your photos and then get links to add to you post so they show up in your post without someone clicking on a link.

like so, click reply to my thread to see an example

I'm sure he knows.......he's just lazy

 

[Jessie James]

I actually have owned and/or managed about 20 different vBulletin sites over the past 15 years or so and do website development for a living so yes I know ...

I did not want to post the images in their full size glory, which I deemed useful for the details to be seen, and the forums here are set to disallow uploading of images so large.

But lazy, no, I actually resized them down first and then put them on imgur as a gallery which is more work for me than putting them on my server. Lucky for you guys, huh?

 

[CherryK5]

Smell of gas.. hmmm. sounds like my truck. maybe i need to check out my distributor

 

[mudbuggy]

Just curious, what does it ohm out at?

 

[Jessie James]

Just curious, what does it ohm out at?

Sorry, I tossed it already and the trash was picked up. But look closely at the last pic after you enlarge it and you will see it's horrible. I've never seen a cap that was in such bad condition.

 

[COCHEV]

I've seen worse. And you can clean em up to a point. depends on how much is gone/worn off.

 

[sweetk30]

i seen a caddy mid 80's with hei drive in shop.

pull cap and no button and 50 cent peice size hole were it should have been,.

 

[imiceman44]

I was working on a vortec that was hard to start and when it ran, it didn't have power.
Checked fuel pressure and it was low, changed regulator, still low, changed pump, it ran but still rough. Changed plugs, didn't start.
Pulled the cap, there was a hole in the button 1/4" deep, and the tips were pretty muchgone

Sorry, I tossed it already and the trash was picked up. But look closely at the last pic after you enlarge it and you will see it's horrible. I've never seen a cap that was in such bad condition.

 

[Brady]

Just did the full tune on my '87 Sub.Was starting to run rough.Found the same thing.I have owned this for 3 yrs and have only changed the plugs and oil and such.

 

[cybrfire]

Sometimes those distributor caps can be amazing.

t case crossmember came loose on a pickup some time ago. Dropped the distributor back into the firewall which pushed the cap forward, cracked it basically in half but was still holding together. Rotor made some serious contact and that got beat up pretty good. Pulled to the side of the road and got the t case back up in place. Missing pretty good but got us the next few miles to town.