Distributor Cap and Rotor Installation

jogl · Jan 7, 2013

My old Cat forklift with a 1404 propane engine in it was acting up last summer. I discovered that the graphite contact on the distributor cap (where the rotor contacts the wire coming from the coil) was completely worn away.

So I fitted the engine with new cap, rotor, as well as wires and spark plugs for good measure. It ran normally all fall, probably put at least 100 hrs on. A few days ago she started missing again, just like when the cap was bad. Sure enough, the carbon was pitted and looking pretty rough on the new cap.

Question:

Did I install the cap and rotor wrong?

Was I supposed to check that the metal contact on the rotor is making proper contact to the rotor or something?

Thanks,
JP.

old · Jan 7, 2013

Your problem is very likely to be parts from the land of almost right so it is not likely to be what you did but where and who made the parts.

Janicholson · Jan 7, 2013

The metal of the rotor contact should touch and rub gently on the graphite button. If it dos not, the carbon will be etched away from sparking across air, and deposited on the inside of the cap. where it will cause carbon tracking and ignition misfire. Jim

Gambles · Jan 7, 2013

You probably did everything fine, the manufacturer of the distributor cap is probably taking the cheap way out. It's been a couple of years now, but I had to maintain a fleet of about 30 forklifts that included 3 Allis-Chalmer 10K pound forklifts. These three forklifts would run from 8-16 hours a day and there was h3ll to pay if they experienced downtime. Each of these three forklifts had a propane-burning Continental 6 cylinder flat head engine in them that used a crab-style distributor cap so that there was clearance between the distributor cap and the operator's seat. Toward the end of their service, it was a hassle to not only find these caps, but to find a good quality cap. It seemed like no matter what brand you would find, they all came from the same factory, just boxed different and I'm pretty sure each cap didn't last 200-300 hours. I'm glad those things are gone.

Ellis Kinney · Jan 7, 2013

This is a guess. But, through out the 80's and 90's a brass dist. cap was almost impossible to get and they didn't seem to last very long, so maybe they were also deficient in other areas. Ellis

pete 23 · Jan 7, 2013

Make sure the rotor contacts the center tip in cap
and then put some lube on that tip. High temp
magneto grease or something similar. IH new tractors
came with a little lube on them.

jogl · Jan 8, 2013

Would it be worth the while to buy some graphite rod and repair the old cap, (that lasted 10 years, and probably 1000hrs)?

Thanks all,
JP.

Distributor Cap and Rotor Installation

jogl

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old

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Janicholson

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Gambles

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Ellis Kinney

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pete 23

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jogl

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