Help!! 96 2.2L running rough after distributor cap replacement!

[toyjunkie]

I'm trying to get back home, my car died while visiting my folks.

I have a 96 2.2L auto with 240k miles -- I replaced the fuel filter, and was poking about and noticed that my distributor cap was cracked bad, and the lead from the battery to the cap wasn't even attached, and was dangling! Problem solved, we probably had fuel, just no spark...

I replaced the cap, put the wires back on (going counterclockwise 1342, right?) and it will start , but it idles rough, smells like gas, and has quite an exhaust cloud. Could this be from the fact that i tried over and over again to start it, but wasn't getting a spark and now it's flooded and needs to work it out? I haven't driven it yet for fear of breaking something.

Any help - quickly - would be great!! Thanks guys!!

[Quicksilver300]

sounds like you may have mixed up the start position, I looked and looked and found this........quote from another forum. it is 1342 though


"When standing in front of the car looking at the engine, from the passenger side of the car the plugs wires go 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 on to the plugs. The number 1 wire is closest to the passenger fender. The OEM wires are actually numbered with 1, 2, 3, and 4 right on them. Attaching the wires to the distributor cap, standing on the drivers side of the engine comparment and looking at the distributor as a clock; #2 wire is at 10:00; number 4 wire is at 2:00; number 3 wire is at 5:00; and number 1 wire is at 7:00. I hope that all makes sense."

[toyjunkie]

Yeah, saw that one in my looking - we had the setup right, but were worried about the rough running - we let it idle for a while and it runs much better and the smoke is gone... Not sure exactly how a disty cap explodes, but that looks like what happened -- it was cracked nearly in two, and the lead from the battery was completely broken away. It looked like the rotor was rubbing on the edge of the old, perhaps leading to it? Maybe the rotor is bad, and the new cap is going to suffer the same fate? I guess we'll know when I drive home....

[CharmCityES]

when replacing the distributor, id go the whole nine yards and do the rotor, gasket, plugs and wires
mainly tho, pay attention to the order for the wires....this can and will cause the car to run poorly

[toyjunkie]

We didn't replace the distributor -- just the cap. The disty is fine still, the cap was cracked though...

[dc_98_cam]

Replace the rotor with a new one. The tip of the rotor is critical for passing the high voltage current to the internal cap electrodes, and onto the spark plugs. ... Even a little wear or oxide coating on the tip of the rotor can make a difference.

[Mike Gerber]

The rough running when you first replaced the cap was probably do to the spark plugs being fouled with fuel from trying to start it with the broken distributor cap. As the excess fuel on the tip of the plugs was being burned away, the engine would smooth itself out.

PS: If you don't get a new rotor, just make sure the old one is seated all the way down on the distributor shaft. It probaly is, or you would have broken either the rotor or the new cap by now.

Mike

[toyjunkie]

Thanks for the advice -- everything is running fine now -- plugs must have been seriously gunked up....