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Old 07-21-2009, 02:03 PM   #11
MagicRat
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Re: Car shut off and won't start

Quote:
Originally Posted by moliva1568 View Post
problem solved, i think. i changed the spark plug wires since that hadn't been done yet and it was still rough. so, i took off the distributor cap and looked inside it. 2 of the 8 points were black. i went to see if i could wipe it off and a like black film shaped like the contact fell off. i put it back on and now it seems to be running fine. any idea what caused those 2 to be black? the distributor cap and rotor are only like a month and a half old. thanks for the help
That's typical of arcing. The rotor does not actually physically touch the contacts, it just gets extremely close... close enough for the electrical energy to jump the tiny gap as a spark. If the gap is slightly too big, due to manufacturing tolerances and/or (I believe) if the plug wires are defective and shorting out to ground, the spark in that gap starts to burn the contacts.

Given the plug wires are all-new, possibly the problem will not occur. But you should keep an eye on it.

BTW... did you use carbon-core or solid-core plug wires? The solid-core wires are better for a points-type ignition, but may cause some radio interference.
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