Second Time in 2 months - distributor cap issue
 

Hi All -
Had a perfect fall day here in Colorado, so I headed out for a drive in the 911. All was great. When I got home I wiped it down and did a once over.

I replaced my plugs, wires, cap and rotor a couple of months ago. After my drive, I gave all of the connections a quick push just to make sure things were seated well and noticed one of the retention spring clips on the cap was un-done. I cant believe the car ran as well as it did. I re-attached it, and made sure that the pins were in the "v" slots and all was secure. My concern is that this is the second time I have had to do this.

Has anyone experienced this?

I bought everything from our host. I did buy the less expensive cap, but that was after doing some searches here and reading that they worked fine. My motor is a 86 3.2.

Thanks a million for any insight.
-Scott S

Not in transit, but it is a bear to get the "far side" clip on the 'cap depending. This is usually user error when the cap is not correctly oriented/made flush to the distributor itself.

Your cap spring may be loose? It is possible to bend them to bring more grip to the connection, but beware a tight fit that jumps loose over bumps.

Either bend the retaining clip for a tighter fit or loosen the screw on the distributor body and slide the clip down a bit. Bending the clip is easier done in the car with a small set of needle nose pliers.

when I was base lining my 911 after purchasing I found the previous owner had the cap installed 180 degrees off. The car ran great regardless but it just shows how forgiving it can be in cap placement.

Scott,

Does your dist/cap look like the one in this link?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/615098-dizzy-cover-comes-loose-3-2-a.html

Hi Bob -
Yep, exactly like that one. I will clip the picture and add it here.

The clips sure seem tight on my cap - it took quite a bit of pressure with a big screw driver to push them down far enough to get the clips engage. I wonder if they are too tight? :confused:

My motor only has 52k on it. I am very confident that the cap/rotor/wires I replaced were original.

In looking at the picture, I may try and open up the "v" clips on the dizzy (bend them a bit further away from the distributor casing) so the clips go in a bit deeper.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1380560743.jpg

In the link one guy says the clips can be installed upside down in error if/when the dist was serviced. Maybe?

Perhaps you should pull the distributor to be safe. You may be able to get a good viewpoint if out for finding the needed tweak.