I changed the cap, wires, plugs, rotor. It ran fine for a day, and now it skips like hell. I checked it at night, and there are sparks at the base of the connectors on the cap (just at the end of the wire boot). If i turn and push down on the wires, it solves the problem until i park it again. I'm not sure if its a wire problem or a istributor cap problem. Any thoughts?

btw- its a vw, 2.0l, 16V

11/2/2005 12:12:46 PM

sounds like the wires backing off the cap a little, or coming out of the connector. try pushing the wires a little further into the boot, or expanding the terminal slightly to make them fit in the cap tighter.

11/2/2005 12:18:31 PM

is the right rotor in there?

is the cap clean?

do all the parts match what came off?

[Edited on November 2, 2005 at 12:19 PM. Reason : ]

11/2/2005 12:18:40 PM

pull the wires back off, push the wires farther through the boot like bigblue said, then push in on the wire till you feel it click and then carefully slide the boot over it, i'm assuming you got the right end on the spark plugs and distributor

11/2/2005 12:23:48 PM

Never hurts to put a little dielectric grease on the terminals

11/2/2005 12:25:33 PM

It's probably not a sign of good things to come.

That'd be my guess, anyway.

Mike

11/2/2005 12:47:44 PM

what kind of wires did you buy??

11/2/2005 1:02:39 PM

some times the coil wire likes to wiggle itself loose on those cars. i would also recomend bosch wires as well on vws. just has a better fit

11/2/2005 1:30:03 PM

i'll try adjusting the wires. I agree, it sounds like they are coming loose a bit, although they snap in place very well. Could just be the boot i guess.

Not sure what brand the wires are. I got them on ebay from one of the guys at blackforest- i guess that could be the issue...

I pulled the cap and the inside is scored, just below each of the contacts, and the rotor looks a little rough, so i am guessing this is the source of the problem. Gonna try replacing those, and work on the wires and see what that does for me.

thanks

11/2/2005 5:12:43 PM

put the old wires back on. 20 bucks says that's the problem.

11/2/2005 5:18:03 PM

yeah, i was dumb and tossed the old wires. they were 3 years old, so if thats the issue, i'll buy another set of wires - it's well past time anyway

11/2/2005 5:24:50 PM

3 yrs old isn't that old, especially if you're not having any problems out of them.

If: They spec out resistance-wise, You're not into high performance, You've got no arcing/misfire problems...leave them alone.

It's hard imagining a brand new set of wires arcing to ground unless there's a problem elsewhere (like the cap and rotor or maybe even a set of really badly fouled plugs) or unless the wires are shit or fit improperly.

11/2/2005 5:55:52 PM

Quote :

"unless the wires are shit"

i bought a no-name set from them and had the same problem.

[Edited on November 2, 2005 at 6:41 PM. Reason : -]

11/2/2005 6:40:49 PM

Quote :

"It's probably not a sign of good things to come. That'd be my guess, anyway. Mike"

wow that sir is an excellent observation. you must be pride of your family!

11/2/2005 7:42:33 PM

^ lmao at you sir.

11/2/2005 7:49:31 PM

just get some autolite professionals from carquest, best wires for the money in my opinion

11/2/2005 9:42:06 PM

3 years is old if the car has not been maintained properly. keep the new wires on and with the car runnning spay alittle water onfrom a spray bottle on the wires and coil. just to see if any arching occurs. but it sounds like your cap and rotter button were pretty bad

11/2/2005 11:24:34 PM

Quote :

"20 bucks says [wires is] the problem. "

11/3/2005 12:36:52 AM

let them rust to the point that they fall off on the road.

worked for me.

11/3/2005 1:27:21 AM

Quote :

"just get some autolite professionals from carquest, best wires for the money in my opinion"

Uhhh...Advance carries the Autolite Professional wires. Good wires.

Carquest carries their premium line made by Prestolite. Better wires.

11/3/2005 1:50:38 AM

oem.

11/3/2005 1:51:24 AM

The problem is that VW OEM wires are high dolla...HIGH DOLLA

11/3/2005 1:52:07 AM

yeah - looks like i will probably just pick up some oem wires and suck up the cost. i was hoping these wires would have worked, since i picked them up so cheap. But i guess you get what you pay for....

11/3/2005 10:51:44 AM