V6 Distributor

[Bainsy]

Excuse my ignorance but never having taken off the distributor cap on my 1999 new shape V6 I have no idea what is inside. Is it a traditional rotor arm and points which need to be regularly changed?

[g8dhe]

Basically yes! Picture of the parts here;
http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html
and overall here;
http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html

[mikeWalsall]

Being an electronic ignition system .. rotor yes .. (Kettering) points no ..

[Simon Jones]

Cap:


Rotor (old and new):


All the bits are available from the club shop, although the rubber seal under the cap may not be a stock item.

[Bainsy]

Thanks guys. How often should the cap and rotor arm be changed?

[g8dhe]

Not sure that there is a specified period as such, when you have problems inspect and replace if required.

[Simon Jones]

Never noticed an official replacement schedule, but if the contacts in the cap are badly marked then it's worth replacing it and the rotor arm as a pair. Note that there is a special rough coating on the tip of the arm which means you can't just fettle up the old one with a piece of emery cloth like you would on something like the BMC A-series engines. I've just replaced both, all 7 leads and the plugs prior to
LPG conversion and it didn't make any difference to the performance of the engine, but it was worth it for peace of mind

[mikeWalsall]

On most cars I have had from I have always changed the dizzy cap .. leads .. rotor .. points / condenser etc: .. as a matter of routine .. just be aware the Bongo prices for 'routine' parts are not exactly cheap .. and not readily available on a Sunday from your local motor spares shop ..

My Bongo is 15 years old .. well past replacements .. recently the tick over started to get rough / lumpy .. I looked under the lid thinking to remove the dizzy cap / rotor and clean up the electrodes .. with the wet weather and the hassle involved .. I passed on the job so I just changed the 6 (easy to source / get to) spark plugs..

With running on LPG .. I closed the plugs gap to 0.1mm .. that alone made a remarkable difference .. so I would think removing the dizzy .. cleaning it .. new cap / leads and strobeing up would make an even better improvement ..