5.8 eats caps and rotors

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Aug 22, 2001 | 10:22 PM

myer

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5.8 eats caps and rotors

I have a 1989 5.8L xlt. It eats caps and rotors. I have lately been buying the brass contact caps which seem to last a little longer. Does anyone else have this problem? Any fixes?
Thanks
myer

Aug 23, 2001 | 08:40 PM

restorit

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From: Bismarck, ND

5.8 eats caps and rotors

Is it possible that your distributor shaft is slightly bent or tweaked towards the upper (rotor) end, or that it has excessive play or wear? Have you considered changing it out for a remanufactured one? Just some thoughts, assuming that your truck is eating the caps and rotors through wear, and not through excessive voltage. If the latter is true, I couldn't tell you. Some sort of coil resistor, perhaps???? There are many more out there who know more about the ignition physics of these than myself. How are your plugs and wires holding up?

Aug 23, 2001 | 10:21 PM

myer

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5.8 eats caps and rotors

The caps and rotors get burned, almost look if the metal melts where the rotor passes. The plugs and wires I just changed yesterday, they seemed to have normal wear.
myer

Aug 24, 2001 | 09:17 PM

thelonerangerxlt

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5.8 eats caps and rotors

I think Restorit is on the right track with the ballast resistor, or in your case, a resistor wire. If you have a multimeter, check the voltage on the positive side of the coil, with the engine off and the key on. You should have about 8-9V. If it is over 12V, then you should install a ballast resistor in the wire before the coil to drop the voltage.

I think that a previous owner may have had trouble with the resistor wire, and just ran a common wire to the coil from the switch.

Good luck.

Aug 24, 2001 | 09:26 PM

myer

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5.8 eats caps and rotors

I have owned the truck since new, it now has 103700 miles and it has burned up caps all along. Will a new coil solve this problem? Thanks for all you input.
myer

Aug 25, 2001 | 09:31 PM

thelonerangerxlt

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5.8 eats caps and rotors

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 25-Aug-01 AT 10:33 PM (EST)[/font][p]Myer, that's a lot of caps and rotors! Yes, it could be the coil. I would check for the proper voltage coming to the pos terminal of the coil (8-9V), and if this is OK, then change the coil. Before you do this, make sure that the ground strap to the engine is clean and tight, and also the battery ground cable to the engine.