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Question: Car died while driving, not the alternator

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Nirat, 2.2L 4 Cylinder, Camas, WA, March 07, 2011, 15:23
 Enthusiast

So my alternator and battery are good, but the car stopped running while I was driving and won't start. I replaced the cap and rotor and the o-ring in my distributor about a month ago, but the cap already has a small crack in it- could this be the problem or is it more likely the distributor itself? Any other ideas? Thanks

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  • Answer #1

    raiderron March 07, 2011, 23:42
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     Master

    Any crack in cap is not good. Can allow moisture to cause problems. The igniter on these vehicles are common problems.

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    Nirat, March 08, 2011, 12:16
     Enthusiast

    Can you give me more info about the igniter? Is it part of the distributor or a whole different part? (I'm new to mechanics, humor my ignorance please and thank you)

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    Visitor, March 08, 2011, 14:10

    Is a seperate component that is mounted on distributor.

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  • Answer #2

    Visitor, March 08, 2011, 07:39

    Some more information about exactly how you were driving the vehicle when it did stall would greatly help to narrow down which system may be the culprit. Vehicle speed, engine operating temperature, ambient temperature and weather conditions, etc.. The more info the better.

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    Nirat, March 08, 2011, 12:11
     Enthusiast

    The weather was sunny (but high humidity), about 40 degrees. This was the first drive of the day- drove 1 mile to the store, parked about 10 min, drove about 3/4th of a mile towards home and broke down- speed limit is 25 so that's what I was going. I'm going to get a new cap today, and check out the spark plugs...

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  • Answer #3

    Visitor, March 11, 2011, 15:45

    The dist. has a built in regulator that may be bad causing to much voltage into you dist. causing the cap to split. Seen it before. this should be brought into a shop to make sure that the dist is installed properly if this is in fact the cause

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    Nirat, March 11, 2011, 19:49
     Enthusiast

    Thanks for all the tips, I couldn't figure out what part of the distributor was bad, but I'm pretty sure it was the original so I ended up replacing the whole distributor, cap, spark plug wires (looked worn), boots (were falling apart), and spark plugs (2 were covered in oil), and replaced the rubber gaskets for the spark plugs under the valve cover (they were ripped), now my car is running better than it ever has and isn't leaking oil or smoking!

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    raiderron, March 11, 2011, 20:10
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     Master

    Ta Da

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