Distributor Rotor

[wotan2525]

In the last few years, I have probably been towed back to the launch 3-4 times. 2 of those instances were due to my distributor rotor breaking. As you might guess, the second time was just last night and I'm a bit irritated. Is this just bad luck or is this a common failure?

The good news is that it's a cheap/easy fix. I just want to try and fix it "forever" this time instead of always wondering if this will be the day that I get stuck again.

[SquamInboards]

That's pretty rare, at least in my experience. What part breaks? And have you gotten replacements from the same place every time? I guess I'd keep an extra one in the boat until you figure out the cause...

[wotan2525]

The plastic part that holds the outside contact has actually cracked or broken both times. Yesterday, it appeared that my cap had slipped off of the distributor on one side. It was impossible to tell if this happened because the rotor had broken or if this is what caused the rotor to break.

Both times that this has happened was while the boat was heavily weighted down and surfing at ~3000rpms. Not sure if it's something related to the load on the engine?

[skiman_61]

My '87 has a mallory short cap distributor. 209-D to be precise. Can't imagine that stout little thing breaking? I'm having a hart time visualizing what part broke on you.

[sybrmike]

If it's not already - sounds like a good excuse to switch to electronic ignition.

[wotan2525]

Already have electronic ignition. I'll take pictures tomorrow when I replace it....

[CornRickey]

Is the plastic on the rotors melted were it broke? Can you tell if it hit the inside of the cap? Any play in the distributor shaft?

[wotan2525]

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu79/rbosworth/imagejpeg_2.jpg

Replaced and everything is working fine again. Distributor shaft seems solid and when I put the cap back on there is no play in that. It's a puzzler!