Believe it or not, I've never so much as pulled the distributor covers off my '93 in my ~18 years of ownership and ~40K miles since I inherited my car from my dad, the original owner. Yeah, I know, living on borrowed time! Knock wood, the M119 has been rock steady. I don't drive the car very often these days, funny how life goes. Anyway, last drive I noticed a single cylinder miss under light load. So I decided it was time to bite the bullet and do these bits. I had bought a complete set a few years ago when they were on clearance from Avenue Imparts in Delaware, which I'm fortunate to be able to drive to. New caps and rotors are Bremi, insulators are Bosch.
So the passenger side cap was pretty gnarly, but not as gnarly as some photos on the board. And the rotor was similar - not great, but not terrible. Behind the insulator was perfectly clean and dry, but the insulator O ring was hard and the insulator itself had one crack. The driver's side cap interior was in really good condition, rotor so-so, but there were beads of condensation on the outside and inside of the insulator. And the coil terminal on the _outside_ of the driver's side cap had quite a bit of that gray dusty corrosion under the coil wire connection.
The plug wires seem to be very supple and I was able to remove them from the caps without too much drama. I'm working in the evenings after work, doing this job slowly. I'm now debating whether to go ahead and do the plugs, as I have a new set as well. I probably should because "while I'm in there". But I think I'll button things up slowly, and do a test drive before doing the plugs. I'll report back after the drive, but it may take me a while at the current pace!
And yes, it may appear that I neglect maintenance having waited so long to do this job, but I don't. I've done the upper harness, I've replaced rear struts, oil changes every year no matter how little I drive, coolant flush periodically, SLS flush done, sound system repaired by Becker, Euro lights, etc. I've just been lucky to have a pretty reliable car so far! I think I will have a shop do the engine mounts and lower harness soon, because I don't have a lift and I'm lucky to have an Indy that I trust.
Here's a pic of the passenger side cap. Looks like some carbon tracking going on. And a shot of the insulator part number.
So the passenger side cap was pretty gnarly, but not as gnarly as some photos on the board. And the rotor was similar - not great, but not terrible. Behind the insulator was perfectly clean and dry, but the insulator O ring was hard and the insulator itself had one crack. The driver's side cap interior was in really good condition, rotor so-so, but there were beads of condensation on the outside and inside of the insulator. And the coil terminal on the _outside_ of the driver's side cap had quite a bit of that gray dusty corrosion under the coil wire connection.
The plug wires seem to be very supple and I was able to remove them from the caps without too much drama. I'm working in the evenings after work, doing this job slowly. I'm now debating whether to go ahead and do the plugs, as I have a new set as well. I probably should because "while I'm in there". But I think I'll button things up slowly, and do a test drive before doing the plugs. I'll report back after the drive, but it may take me a while at the current pace!
And yes, it may appear that I neglect maintenance having waited so long to do this job, but I don't. I've done the upper harness, I've replaced rear struts, oil changes every year no matter how little I drive, coolant flush periodically, SLS flush done, sound system repaired by Becker, Euro lights, etc. I've just been lucky to have a pretty reliable car so far! I think I will have a shop do the engine mounts and lower harness soon, because I don't have a lift and I'm lucky to have an Indy that I trust.
Here's a pic of the passenger side cap. Looks like some carbon tracking going on. And a shot of the insulator part number.
