Holy Schmoley Batman! My suspicions were correct - the ignition was the guilty culprit. It appears that one of the little metal things on the rotor cap (the part the spark plug wire plugs onto) sheared off. The lower part on the inside of the rotor cap then fell down onto the rotor. That was the sound I heard. It jammed down inside and the metal contact on the rotor twisted, gnarled and shredded itself. All the brittle plastic parts & connectors also self destructed. Talk about a nasty mess. The plastic connectors on the ignition were all broken too. :( Juding by the date codes on these things (or how I think the date codes interpret) most of the stuff in there IS the original stuff (right down to the spark plug wires). So I'm off to GM for some new wire connectors, condensor etc... So, any of you who haven't changed the cap / rotor etc.... DO IT NOW! :yesnod:

 

Has anyone purchased the replacement Terminal Block piece? Do they include a solid state thing instead of the old style capacator cylinder? I believe the original part number is 1892261, and the replacement part number is 1986260. I purchased one of the 1892261 parts off eBay, but it has the solid state thing, not the capacitor. Before I "special order" this thing - I want to see if it's not what I've already got - or the part in the box numbered 1892261 is really a 1986260 part. Thanks, ~Juliet


[Modified by Juliet, 9:50 AM 12/8/2001]

 

GM's parts computer refers or describes two terminal blocks which (at least for me and the parts counter guy I dealt with last) leads to the confusion. Part #1986260 is the harness lead from the module to the 4 way ECM connector and GM refers to it as a terminal block (by the way it includes the plastic connector you are looking for in another post). The other part number is the terminal block with the capacitor and plugs into the distributor cap. From reading your post, you need both.

 

Don't know the part numbers, but there is no capacitor (condenser) in there! That's for points.

I would pull the distrubutor and see if any peices when down low. Good time to pull it apart and re-lube. If any stuff is down below, may prove a problem in the future.

Why not give Jeff Koop a ring, he can help put together all the parts that may have been messed up.

Side note, recently bought a GM (AC/Delco) replacement cap, and after looking at the lack of quality (off shore part) I stayed with my old one. I will get an Accel when the time comes.

Good Luck, sorry to hear the problems - but it will be well soon.

Pete

 

Petey I would stay away from yhat Accel stuff. I have had two corrode and go bad on me under normal circumstances. I am happy with my MSD. I 'm guessing Juliet you will follow your all ACDelco NCRS theme huh? Aren't you tempted in the slightest to go with aftermarket "hi perf" marketed items such as cap/rotor/wires etc, thus some possible $ savings over the general's prices? This would be a good time for a complete dist re-conditioning. It is actually quite easy. Sorry to hear of the implosion, but it isn't rare for this to happen on "never before changed-that's the original one from the factory" ignition pieces. You are aware you have just only started down the path of replacing many items on your car right? :eek: I speak from exp :cry . :D

 

"Petey"? :D That's a riot!

I like the Accel caps; good castings and nice brass contacts. You should see the junk the AC/Delco sent me! WOW :eek: , what trash. I have a cap I got from Davis on the car now, it's OK. Guess I should look at the MSD.

Juliet, I have my orginal '89 cap in good condition (back when the AC Delco parts were good). It's your's if it would work for you, but probably won't go another 10-15K.

 

Uh Pete - the one which has been in the car for a good long time (possibly 108k miles, but I can't confirm that) has definately got a condenser on it. :D The current replacement has a solid state something or other on it.

I have most of the AC parts here already. I purchased them a while back, but never got around to installing them. :rolleyes: Thanks everyone. I'm off on a biz trip for a week, so it'll probably be next weekend between Xmas parties when I get the beast put back together. :yesnod: ~Juliet

 

Hey, while you're in there, replace the grease in the distributor well, mine only had 95,000 miles on it and the grease was no longer greasy. Its a common thing with HEI ignitions that is looked over.

Its hard to explain, hopefully your or your husband know what I'm talking about. If you need instructions though, shoot me an e-mail at noworries@454ss.com

 

Thanks Pete, that's nice of you to offer, but I think I'm set for now. :) I'm curious about the "junk" though - the stuff I purchased is AC Delco, I bought it earlier this summer through the local chain store. It looks exactly like the original dated stuff I took off the car. The new stuff has Delphi logo instead of the Delco Remy logo, but the composition, color etc, looks to me like the original stuff. :confused: Thanks, ~Juliet

 

Greg's sitting here next to me on the couch "Huh, I thought it was an oil lubricated system." So DOH! I'll send ya an e-mail. :D ~Juliet

 

Then the effort to make it orginal will be all that more challenging! Trust me, there has not been a capacitor in the distributor since the points went bye-bye.

The replacement AC/Delco caps are horrible! I'm not kidding. If you can find an old orginal cap / rotor you will be far ahead. Perhaps TLD has some replacements before the off-shore stuff was produced? I think the parts I took off says Delco Remy, but haven't looked recently.

You should pull the distributor and clean it out, and re-lube it as I said. If any part of this response was insulting I am sorry, I did not mean to be - just relaying what I experienced. Sorry it blew apart on you, but there is absolutely no condensor in the distributor of any C-4 from the factory, or any ECM car that I know about.
http://www.helminc.com

Good Luck,

Pete

 

Absolutely No insult taken Pete. :lol: I'm going to put this part on the scanner and post the picture. Back in a few. I'm 99% certain this thinggie on it is a condensor! Maybe I don't know what I'm looking at though! I'll be the first to admit I'm a wanna be mechanic newbie here. :eek: ~Juliet

 

You've got mail. :)

 

The old one is on the right. The new one is on the left. The thing I'm referring to as a condenser says either 3 MF or .3 MF on the end of it and is the cyllindirical thing. Not sure if that's really a decimal point or not. ;) Notice how the plastic is all cracked off the connector cover. :eek: Maybe it's just called something else? This is mounted on the top of the distributor, under the rotor. That's the analagous location for the condenser which goes with the points on my C3. :crazy: ~Juliet

 

Hey, found another topic about it: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=102003

 

The book I'm looking at refers to that part as a module...in its exact words:

"If the coil checked out okay but the unit did not deliver a spark, it could be the module next to it has gone out. Replacements should be available from your nearest auto parts store."

 

I wonder if that's really referring to this piece? It's not next to the coil, it's buried way underneath. :eek: ~Juliet

PS - GREAT THREAD from the archives Canyon. :) I've got that baby saved to disk along with your e-mail. THanks!!!! ~J


[Modified by Juliet, 11:15 PM 12/8/2001]

 

sounds less like a condenser and more like a capacitor... MF could = Milli-Farads...

 

Just to back you up Juliet, as you know, YES THERE IS A CONDENSOR in both Vacuum advance HEI distributors AND ECM controlled advance HEI distributors. We have the latter.

I am surprised GM went all solid state on our bums. I bought a new capacitor recently (aftermarket Wells was capacitor, not SS) and was outraged at the price until I saw it had the EST (Electronic Spark Timing) module connector on it.

You can go to a parts counter and haggle for a condensor OR a capacitor-either way, good parts people (ahem ;) ) would get you that part no matter what. Then again, considering GM changed it to solid state, I don't know where that leaves you with needing NOS parts. It almost looks like the Ground Lug on that new one in the picture changed, so make sure you ground it right! Otherwise, have fun putting it in.

As far dielectric grease goes, there is supposed to be some thick white dielectric grease (increases heat absorbtion) underneath the EST module. THe distributor pad acts as a large heat sink. Whenever you get a module tested off car, that thing can burn the fingerprints off the fingers in about 8 seconds. It gets spicy hot, so make sure you use some. The clear dielectric does NOT have the same heat absorbing capacities that the white stuff does. BTW, you probably know, but the EST module is the solid state piece with 7 pins on it. 2 pins are for the condensor/SS, 2 are for the pickup coil, and the other 3 are for the ECM. -Matt-


[Modified by HighHopes85, 11:26 PM 12/8/2001]

 

Juliet - You are very right and I was very wrong! That is a condenser (capacitor) and it is as it came from the factory. Mine has the other, so must have been replaced at some point. :bb

Now if it ever stops raining here I'll have to go see what that thing is!

I think you are lucky with that cap you found, must have been the last batch before it went off-shore. Does it say Made in USA? The quality of the plastic inside on this new one is so bad I know it would carbon track right away. Won't put it on.