[jim&doani]

About 2000 miles ago I replaced the wires, plugs, cap and rotor on my 98 Z71 5.0. Used Borg Warner cap and rotor, name brand parts. A thousand miles or so later the engine develops a back fire through the TB and a miss. Probably the cap or rotor, replaced them both (parts store warranteed them no problem), and truck ran great again. Now 6 months and another thousand miles, same miss and backfire. Returned cap and rotor, once again warrantied. The counterman (that I've known forever and is a wealth of info) said this was a common issue and recommended I switch to Delco. Traded for the AC/Delco cap and rotor and truck is running great again. Anyone else had issues with caps and rotors on these engines?

 

[xPosTech]

That's a 5.0 and not 5.7? You didn't mention the total miles. If you live in town (your avatar shows otherwise) and you always make very short trips adding up to a few thousand miles a year, most of the distributor wear you're getting is at startup. It would add up to a very high percentage of your total miles. This is just a guess from your post.

Anywho when a distributor starts eating caps and rotors it usually means the drive gear and bushing at the top of the shaft are getting worn. Another problem might be plugged vents in the distributor housing under the components. Make sure those two vents are clear otherwise the brass or aluminum bits in the top of the cap corrode.

If you have a lot of miles on it the timing chain is probably getting a little slop in it as well.

Ted

 

[jim&doani]

Thanks for the reply. It is a 5.0 with 174000 miles. I didn't put a dial indicator on the dist. shaft but I can feel no slop at all. There is virtually no deposits on the contacts in the cap, and under a magnifier I see no carbon tracks or cracks. This is the cap with the even cylinders on one side and odd cylinders on the other.

 

[geo1]

Bummer with the b.w parts,one strike bad for them with me,I ask for them, take the above recommend to clear your vent,lots of condensation

 

[Flyinfool]

At the shop I go to they have never had anything but AC Delco cap and rotor that would last. Don't matter what the brand, only AC Delco works.