distributor cap catched fire
tss212
a6L. i was driving on highway about 60 mph for about 20 minutes,
stopped at driveway and truck died. I seen smoke coming from under
hood. I opened the hoood and the distruibutor cap was on fire. It was
an accel cap and rotor. I dont see why it would catch fire. Nobody i
have taked to ever had this happen. What could of caused this?
Mike Romain
The Accel cap and rotor I bought was a total piece of garbage with 'WAY'
too big a gap between the rotor and the cap's posts.
This caused mine to smoke out by arcing all the contacts within a month.
Mine didn't get to the actual on fire point, but if there had of been
fumes around, well....
They shouldn't be allowed to sell them!
Same for the 'performance' yellow Accel wire set. Every wire broke the
first time the plugs were checked which was when the 'new' cap also got
tossed in the trash. (checked the plugs for fouling because of crap
spark path)
I went back to an OEM cap and rotor and wires from the dealer 7 years
ago now which are still working fine.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)
H...@nospam.nix
"tss212" <t...@timslover.com> wrote in message
news:1181842847.1...@a26g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
Ive seen rotors with carbon tracks, and carbonized distributor caps,
but dont remember seeing a fire in one. I respect the comments that
Mike Romain has voiced and dont disagree with him.
But it also seems like I remember rare instances where fumes (gasoline
in the crankcase, or even oil fumes) in an improperly ventilated crankcase
can actually find their way past the distributor bushings and into the
distributor head.
If this were to happen, you might be able to light it. Anybody ever seen
this
happen?
Ray
on my race car, I had a situation where the ignition was effectively
left "on" for 12 hours (car not running, but power to distributor), and
the coil actually got hot enough to start melting the cap.
To this day, I'm not sure if we messed something up or ???
HEI dist in a 76 Camaro...
Steve
That is doubly odd, because HEI doesn't leave any current at all flowing
through the coil when it is not getting trigger pulses from the
distributor pickup. Sounds like a bad HEI module to me.
Mike Romain
I have seen freshly sprayed with WD40 distributors catch on fire when
they aren't wiped out or when the wires were sprayed while it was running.
tss212
20,000 miles.
> Jan/06http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
> (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
ray
> Ray wrote:
>>
>> on my race car, I had a situation where the ignition was effectively
>> left "on" for 12 hours (car not running, but power to distributor),
>> and the coil actually got hot enough to start melting the cap.
>>
>> To this day, I'm not sure if we messed something up or ???
>>
>> HEI dist in a 76 Camaro...
>
> That is doubly odd, because HEI doesn't leave any current at all flowing
> through the coil when it is not getting trigger pulses from the
> distributor pickup. Sounds like a bad HEI module to me.
http://www.rollingviolation.com/pix/misc/dist.jpg
http://www.rollingviolation.com/pix/misc/dist2.jpg
I have no idea what the hell I did other than leave the ignition powered on.
Ray
Steve
> Steve wrote:
>
>> Ray wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> on my race car, I had a situation where the ignition was effectively
>>> left "on" for 12 hours (car not running, but power to distributor),
>>> and the coil actually got hot enough to start melting the cap.
>>>
>>> To this day, I'm not sure if we messed something up or ???
>>>
>>> HEI dist in a 76 Camaro...
>>
>>
>> That is doubly odd, because HEI doesn't leave any current at all
>> flowing through the coil when it is not getting trigger pulses from
>> the distributor pickup. Sounds like a bad HEI module to me.
>
>
> http://www.rollingviolation.com/pix/misc/dist.jpg
> http://www.rollingviolation.com/pix/misc/dist2.jpg
The word "yuck!" comes to mind.
>
> I have no idea what the hell I did other than leave the ignition powered
> on.
I don't doubt you, but I'm guessing the real problem was with the HEI
module and not the coil, because the HEI should shut off current through
the coil under those conditions.
aarcuda69062
Steve <n...@spam.thanks> wrote:
A picture is worth a 1000 words...
The failure resulted because the ground strap was not installed.
No secondary ground = really high resistance.
Usually they only run for 30 seconds or so.
Knifeblade_03
>snip<Ive seen rotors with carbon tracks, and carbonized distributor
caps,
but dont remember seeing a fire in one. I respect the comments that
Mike Romain has voiced and dont disagree with him.
But it also seems like I remember rare instances where fumes (gasoline
in the crankcase, or even oil fumes) in an improperly ventilated
crankcase
can actually find their way past the distributor bushings and into the
distributor head.
If this were to happen, you might be able to light it. Anybody ever
seen
this
happen? >unsnip<
Yep, happened to my 71 Firebird. The CVS clogged, and since the dist.
seals were leaky, the gas naturally pushed through there, one spark, and
stranded on I-75 with a LOT of excitement!!!!!!!
--
Knifeblade_03
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H...@nospam.nix
"Knifeblade_03" <Knifeblade...@no-mx.nodomain.com> wrote in message
news:Knifeblade_03.2sa7gt@no-
> Yep, happened to my 71 Firebird. The CVS clogged, and since the dist.
> seals were leaky, the gas naturally pushed through there, one spark, and
> stranded on I-75 with a LOT of excitement!!!!!!!
>
>
> --
> Knifeblade_03
Thanks,Knifeblade...I know I may be senile, but not yet totally over the
hill.
ray
spare, my buddy's...
I usually pull the battery cable anyway for safety - it's a race car, so
it has no neutral safety switch...
Ray
ray
>
> A picture is worth a 1000 words...
> The failure resulted because the ground strap was not installed.
> No secondary ground = really high resistance.
>
> Usually they only run for 30 seconds or so.
WTF?
This happened with the car sitting with the ignition switch ON, but the
car not running. (we started the car, shut it off, had lunch, and much
later I smelled the cap melting.)
It's a dirt race car - there's two ground wires on it. A big one that
runs from the battery to the back of the cylinder head, and a little one
that feeds my voltmeter. The car has a starter, alternator, distributor
a voltmeter and an ignition switch. that's the entire electrical system.
AFAIK, the module still works. I wish I could remember which one it was
so I could test it/toss it.
Ray
aarcuda69062
ray <rollingv...@domain.invalid.com> wrote:
> aarcuda69062 wrote:
> >
> > A picture is worth a 1000 words...
> > The failure resulted because the ground strap was not installed.
> > No secondary ground = really high resistance.
> >
> > Usually they only run for 30 seconds or so.
>
> WTF?
That's exactly what everyone says when they don't install the
ground strap when they switch out a HEI distributor cap...
> This happened with the car sitting with the ignition switch ON, but the
> car not running. (we started the car, shut it off, had lunch, and much
> later I smelled the cap melting.)
If the pole piece is lined up just right and there is voltage to
the ignition coil/module, the ignition system will throw sparks
even though the engine is not running. It's a rare situation,
but it has been known to happen.
> It's a dirt race car - there's two ground wires on it. A big one that
> runs from the battery to the back of the cylinder head, and a little one
> that feeds my voltmeter. The car has a starter, alternator, distributor
> a voltmeter and an ignition switch. that's the entire electrical system.
I'm talking about the stamped metal ground strap that should have
been inside the distributor cap, fits under the coil frame and
extends over to the harness plug, it is definitely missing in the
pictures.
Echlin part number RR-204;
http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=470&Li
neCode=ECH&PartNumber=RR204&Description=Ignition+Coil+Strap
ray
> I'm talking about the stamped metal ground strap that should have
> been inside the distributor cap, fits under the coil frame and
> extends over to the harness plug, it is definitely missing in the
> pictures.
> Echlin part number RR-204;
> http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=470&Li
> neCode=ECH&PartNumber=RR204&Description=Ignition+Coil+Strap
>
>> AFAIK, the module still works. I wish I could remember which one it was
>> so I could test it/toss it.
ok, and now I'm going to have to admit that you may be right. Because
it was three years and three engines ago, I'll be darned if I can
remember if it was in there or not. When I bought the car it had a
running 305 in there which I overheated *(a bumper through the rad will
do that) so this was engine swap time. I can't remember if this was the
distributor cap on engine 1 or 2, the 305 or the 350 that replaced it.
This was the first year of racing, so I was having to fix and rebuild
stuff daily just to keep the car running.
Digging through the pics I have, it looks like that was the cap & rotor
and coil that was originally installed - I think it looked pretty new so
we concentrated on other stuff like the fact the cage wasn't up to snuff
and it had stock size wheel studs - most of which were loose...
I can say for sure that that ground strap is installed now - there were
no leftover parts after the swap. :)
Ray
Ray
Mike Romain
An MSD is a common swap. Just because there aren't any left over parts,
doesn't mean the swap or replacement was correct in the first place...
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
Dan_Thom...@yahoo.com
> This happened with the car sitting with the ignition switch ON, but the
> car not running. (we started the car, shut it off, had lunch, and much
> later I smelled the cap melting.)
So the circuitry powers the coil until the distributor
shaft rotates, sending the pulses to shut it off. Remember, it's when
the primary current is interrupted that the coil generates a spark, so
when you left the ignition on but not running, the coil was receiving
full primary flow. Gets plenty hot. Typical current could be three or
four amps or more.
Dan
Ray
>>
>> I can say for sure that that ground strap is installed now - there
>> were no leftover parts after the swap. :)
>>
>> Ray
>> Ray
>
> An MSD is a common swap. Just because there aren't any left over parts,
> doesn't mean the swap or replacement was correct in the first place...
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...
> Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
> Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
> (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)
lol.
did you look at the pics? By swap, I meant cap and coil were tossed in
the trash and another one swapped in place. I know THAT one has the
little clip, and I could have sworn the other one did too, but I'm not
sure because we chucked the whole thing into the trash.
The car currently has my buddy's old distributor, a Bosch cap and rotor,
a free Accel supercoil under a stock cover, and an MSD module. I'd like
to get one of those Davis DUI setups....
Ray
Ray
ok, but why would that never happen in a street car if you had the
ignition on to run the radio but the car not running?
Ray
Mike Romain
I have had coils get cherry red that way. I once forgot about a ballast
wire I had bypassed with a direct line and when I came back I could
smell it. The coil was cherry. I let it cool down and that coil still
worked.
Mike Romain
I was meaning that the cap and coil don't come with the strap, it is a
separate part...
I was thinking on going MSD with my Accel SuperCoil, but still have my
stock motorcraft module in my Jeep.
I will for sure pay attention to grounds seeing as I have a 'glass body.
Dan_Thom...@yahoo.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
Because you use the Accessory position of the ignition
switch. That position supplies power to things like the radio and
wipers in either the "Acc" or "Ignition" positions, but only to the
accessories (and not the ignition) in the "Acc" position. The
provision of an "Acc" position is to prevent coil burnout (and the
wasting of battery power).
There are separate contacts within the switch for the ignition
and accessories.
In the "Start" position the accessories are disconnected to
prevent damage to electronics caused by voltage spikes generated by
the starter and solenoid. Take apart an old switch sometime and see
how complex it can be.
Dan
Ray
My cars have ACC, RUN, and START.
Not everything works in ACC on all cars. For example, wife's Beretta -
digital dash, IIRC the dash only powers up in RUN.
Ray
Steve
That's actually NOT how HEI works. It is how Chrysler electronic
ignition works, but there's a difference. With HEI, the module limits
the coil dwell time. IOW, at low RPM or with the shaft not rotating, the
HEI will only allow current to flow through the coil for a finite number
of millseconds, and then shuts the coil off unless there is another
pulse from the pickup coil. That's why HEI doesn't need a ballast
resistor to protect the coil.
tss212
giving any problems.