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Triumph TR6 - Distributor Cap Woes

I recently replaced the distributor cap on my 76. The old cap had a small crack at its base, but it still worked. I fitted the new cap making sure that the ignition wires and the coil wire were all installed in the same positions they had been on the old cap. The car started but ran extremely rough. I check the wires and made sure they were tightly connected at both the distributor cap and at the spark plugs. The coil wire was also okay. I check the rotor and reconnected the cap. The problem repeated. After trying everything I could think of, I reinstalled the old cap. The car started right up and ran fine. Anybody get a bad cap before? I ordered it from Moss. It's not the Lucas. Any ideas on what could cause this, let me know.
Mark Hauck

Mark,

I've heard of the occasional bad cap. I'd suggest you swap out your rotor before you deem the cap bad. Most change out both due to wear.

Don from Jersey
Don from Jersey

Good idea. I'll try it.
Mark Hauck

Mark,

Did you check the distributor shaft? Worn bushings? If both caps broke and rough running,you might check that.

Rod
Rod Nichols

Mark,
I bet your new cap has the smaller aluminum electrodes and your old cap has the larger brass posts. The problem I find with the new caps is that if you don't have the points plate adjusted properly, the gap between the rotor and electrode is too large when the coil discharges causing a poor spark and bad performance. I use a cap with a cut-away to adjust the distributors I work on. Would be happy to send you a picture of what the cap/adjustment looks like.

Good luck, Bob
Robert Sarama

I may have to check the distributor shaft. For a while, I was breaking rotors. When I installed an electronic ignition, the problem went away. Part of the electronic ignition kit included a collar that encircles the shaft and I always suspected that may be what provided the remedy.

Both caps have the aluminium electrodes. Nonetheless, I would like to see picture of the cut away.

My e-mail address is mehauck@yahoo.com.

Thanks for the suggestions. When I discover the source of the problem, I'll report back.
Mark Hauck

Mark Sorry to hear of your woes with the dist cap. Without mentioning any names the company that you bought the part from has not the best reputation for quality and I would strongly advise you to pay a little bit more and get a quality product, The worker that gets paid 2 bowels of rice makes a better product than the worker who only gets one! Or better still originalls are still to be found in UK
Clive P

Just pay a bit more for a genuine Echlin cap (got mine from NAPA).
Rick Orthen

Mark,
Your local NAPA store will have EP55 dist cap and EP44 rotor..3 years on my car with no problems..brass contacts also.
Charlie
Charlie B.

This thread was discussed between 19/07/2005 and 09/08/2005

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