What happened? Ignition no go, now goes...Dizzy rotor?

[H.G.P.]

911 would not start, fuel system checked out fine. Thought maybe flooded. Well I then suspected ignition.

No spark. Jiggled some wires then noticed carbon on the copper perimeter tip of the distributor rotor. Cleaned the carbon off. Started fine. Is it possible that the distributor rotor tip could cause no start? (Pic below, poor lighting of the rotor and copper colored "tip".) Or should I suspect the ignition coil perhaps??

[Joe Bob]

That is a wear item....prolly good time for a new cap and rotor.

[H.G.P.]

OK, well it does not have many miles on it, yet it has been installed for over two years. Should these be replaced by the mileage or by number of years?

The carbon cleaned off pretty well. Can they just be cleaned?

Thanks for the response.

[anh911]

It's not very likely that carbon on the rotor would cause no spark. You probably have another problem.

[H.G.P.]

Originally posted by anh911
It's not very likely that carbon on the rotor would cause no spark. You probably have another problem.

Well then I'm stumped on this one. The rotor was the only visible part that looked suspect, and so I cleaned the carbon off it. Started fine again.

Other than that, I waited approx. 3 hours to start again in case flooded, and I changed the oil. Jiggled some wires, and cleaned the green wire connector to the distributor. It starts fine. That's all.

What else?

[Joe Bob]

Intermittent starting can also be a ignition key switch that is about to go tits up....