I did a tune up on my 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with the 5.2. I put on a new cap and rotor, wires, plugs. The Jeep strted and ran fine for about 2 weeks. We took a trip cross state and were about 100 miles from home, took an off ramp and at the top of the ramp we stopped at the stop sign and with no warning the Jeep died. The temp was running about 195-200, the fuel was fine I just replaced the fuel pump and the crank shaft positioning censor and the fuel ump relay switch at the same time as the tune up. I checked the fuel rail to make sure I had fuel. It was fine. Perplexed I checked the spark plug wires for spark. Not a damn thing. I checked the wire from coil to distributor, that about killed me LOL. :icon16: So no spark from plug wires and yet spark from coil, I took off the distributor cap. My rotor had actually come apart inside the cap. What the hell was that all about? Has this ever happened to anyone? The rotor had, what it looks like, slid up the shaft of the distributor and hit the cap and tore off the little contact thingy on to of the rotor sending it into pieces inside the cap. The guy at Autozone said he thought I had put it on incorrectly. It has a slot on the shaft and an ridge inside the rotor where the two come together. How can you put it together wrong and the thing still run? When you looked inside the area that slid on the shaft of the dist. you could see the scrapes of the plastic where it had gone completely down on the shaft of the dist. and seated. My question is, should I be putting something on the dist. shaft to keep the rotor more secure? Could the shaft be that worn that it wont hold the rotor? You have to apply a bit of force just to make that thing seat, I don't understand why it wouldn't hold. Any ideas or if someone else has witnessed this I'd appreciate input.

How hard was it to pull the rotor off the distributor?
It should be relatively hard (take a bit of pulling). I have never seen nor heard of this happening the only thing I can imagine is you did not have it seated all the way down the distributor shaft.

Something similar happened to me a week ago. In my case some brainaic at the garage where I took it to check exhaust figured he'd busy himself under the hood and unscrewed the cap. The rotor hit the side of the cap, causing the contact on the top to shear and the electricity to jump from the center to the points through the plastic. It liquified the rotor and I'm suprised I made it home when I finally found it. I don't know of anything to 'secure' the rotor - it shouldn't need it since the post is metal it was probably a faulty part. I can't see any reason why the post would be worn so I'm assuming it was either the rotor or the install. Try to get a better quality cap set & best of luck.

How hard was it to pull the rotor off the distributor?
It should be relatively hard (take a bit of pulling). I have never seen nor heard of this happening the only thing I can imagine is you did not have it seated all the way down the distributor shaft.

It took me getting up there in the engine comp. and pulling the best I could with both hands to yard that thing off of there. Looking in the hole where the shaft goes in you could see the scrape marks going way up in the shaft to about 3/4 the way up the notch for the distributor shaft. I think I got it seated it just didn't hold.

could have been a faulty rotor button, maybe there wasn't enough pressure in the slot to hold it on. Make sure when you replace it that it is seated all the way and there is some pressure when putting it on, also make sure the distributor cap is on tight.

I've had numerous 318's (5.2) and never had one come off. But...I have had to put the new rotor on more than once to make sure it was seated properly, and all the way down the shaft.