Dist. cap moisture problem thoughts

[Jasen]

Seeing my damp cap issue came back in a short time I've been giving thought to the problem.
I think I've got a aftermarket dist. I don't have screens, it's got a couple slotted holes. I've drilled them out in the thoughts it would work like removing the screens and I've also slathered the lip with dielectric grease to seal the cap to dist.
Having the splash skirts properly installed is impotent, but I'm thinking that only address's part of the problem. The part I don't think any of us has given thought to is steam flashing off the exhaust. Building a diaphragm that seals off the exhaust from the top of the motor isn't feasible and would probably cause cooling issues.

So here's my thinking. Cut the top vent out of an old school dist. cap and epoxy it into he spider cap, and seal up the vent holes in the dist. base.

What do you think, have I lost my mind, or might I be onto something here.

This is the vent off a Mitsubishi 1.8 I also found top vents on a number of marine caps. like Volvo Penta motors.

[moonbuggy]

Steam goes up and everywhere, collects, condenses and drips ....When I had this Problem with the moonbuggy, I'd also note a bit of anti-freeze smell for a second just after firing-up. I tracked this to a tiny pinhole in the hardline at the back of the intake manifold. This little bleeder was spaying towards the dist. but not right on it . Seems my throttle cable was rubbing on it and wore a small hole that only leaked after shut down. Then when you start it the moisture turned to steam and soon he was mis-firing. Went thru the cap and rotor thing twice, then found the leak. Now both problems are solved . Look for leaks on top the engine... hoses, fittings or even at the thermostat housing

[Phantom]

allow the bottom vents to breath ,, there have been reports that the A/C line that goes across the top of the dist can cause moisture in the area and cause moisture in the cap , I took a plastic lid from a plastic jar that is about a 6 in diameter attached a piece of rubber from an old inner tube and fashioned duct taped it to the A/C line so that any moisture is angled down the other side , seems to have worked . I had a similar setup on an old car that I fashioned a rubber diaper above the distributor cap that helped during rain when water would be in the engine bay

[Jasen]

I'll keep those in mind. I only have problems when it rains or the dew point it really high. After a day or two of dry weather it clears up and runs like a champ.

[Phantom]

You might also have a damaged crank sensor connector/wiring , loose coil wire ,

[Jasen]

Coil lead wire's should be good or a least tight seeing I recently replaced the coil and saw no signs of corrosion. It started acting up not to long ago and when I pulled the Accel cap I found the terminals were green, so I cleaned them up with 1000 gt. sprayed it out with WD and air, drilled out the weep holes, sealed the cap to dist with dielectric grease, now it's doing it again.