Has any one out there... in the land of Pelican OZ... every seen this happen before?

[RRRacing1970]

Just driving along coming back from Fla. to KY and about 160 miles from headquarters... R&R Racing with a 1987 Stock turbo (105K miles) going up hill... about a 20% incline with the boost at 1.8 Bar doing 75 MPH and "POP"... under the hood... no power it like the timing belt broke. I mean... I spent 3 hr's looking at wf pump, timing belt, DME, Computer harness and DME & KLR + timing sensors (nothing)... spins over with no problem even caries 40 LBS of oil pressure... you name it I checked it out. The only thing I didn't look at was the cap and rotter... towed it to Motel. Rented a car and drove home. Came back the next day with a trailer and loaded up and carted back home. You won't believe what I found when I pulled the Dist. Cap of... Has any one ever seen this beforee? Replaced the rotter and started on the first revolution... runs just perfect like it did beforee the ("POP"ing sound!





















I have never in over 50 years of racing have never seen any thing like this! Does any one out seen this before and what cased it?
Thanks... Ron

[fast924S]

That's crazy... What's all the cooper from? All I can think is a massive arch blew it apart, what's the cap look like

[geno951]

What did it look like before your german Shepard chewed on it?



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[RRRacing1970]

Great questions... what looks like copper wire strands is the red plastic that looks to have melted and the cap looks great. The only thing I have found so far is that the dust cover seal behind the rotter button that slides on the cam mount shaft shaft is missing?

,06 Engine Electrics 1 M44.05 07,08,09,10 51,52

Thanks... Ron

[kdollar]

I had one burn through like that a couple of years ago. Never figured out why and have not had a recurring problem with it. Mine was a Bosch which what yours appears to be.

[Grandad#3]

Well Gents, it looks like we may have to start carrying a spare Rotor as well as a DME Relay. What spares should we now carry for an Emergency?

Cheers,
Larry

[kdollar]

6 pack! Or fifth!

[Pops944]

I can think of two things that could cause this. One is if the plug wires were old and the center conductor deteriorated causing a high resistance could draw excessive current making the rotor get very hot. The second would be a faulty coil (or connections at the coil) putting out a lower voltage resulting in higher current. Either route could be intermittent and hard to isolate. I've seen the plug wires go bad in an old Chevelle that burned both the rotor and cap.

[RRRacing1970]

kdollar... six pack of course... no hard stuff for me! Yes u are right it was an Bosch rotor... with about 58K miles on it... the last one on the Porsche Maint. book and records says it was replace at 50K miles.
Ron

Pops944...that is about the best answer so far... will start testing resistance in sp wires and the coil while running at different speeds (rpm)...any where from 2500 to 3200 rpm! I think you may be on to something here! TG... for oms meters & people with lots of old time experience with 944's.
Ron

Grandad#3... I already hare a spare in the glove box now!
Ron