Rotor Arm/Dizzy Cap Problem - Pse Help !

[stokieah]

I changed the rotor arm and dizzy cap on my Mk 4 Escort XR3i Cabrio last night and started the engine and all seemed well. However, when I drove to work this morning it was kanagarooing and giving small judders as I accelerated which is an obvious result of changing these parts - Have I done it wrong? I unplugged the old leads one at a time and put them in the new dizzy cap one at a time so I think that is ok, but when it came to the rotor arm I just popped it off and slid the new one on..Does anyone have any advice ? Please help - Thank you...

 

[keyplayer]

If the car ran ok last night the firing order will be fine. Why did you change the cap? And have you had another look? Maybe a lead or two has popped out. I would look for any arcing, and perhaps employ some wd40.

 

[^neo^]

I would say if you've disturbed the leads then maybe one of them has broken when pulling it off

 

[semi-acoustic]

I had the same problem many years ago, the problem being I had not put dizzy cap back on correctly, it sounds stupid but it is easily done.

 

[stokieah]

Just took off the dizzy cap and put back on - seems to be ok now - will be doing a 100mile round trip tomorrow returning on Sunday - Will let you all know how it goes - fingers crossed Thankyou to everyone who helped me out - much appreciated.

 

[TicklyT]

and perhaps employ some wd40.

I'd be careful about using WD40.
Years ago I had a HA Viva (Ugh!) that wouldn't start until the dizzy cap had been sprayed with the stuff. The previous owner just kept spraying it every morning before jumping in and starting it. The car developed an addiction for it. There was about a 1/4" layer of oily dust stuck to the cap which lit up like a christmas tree!

After scraping this lot off the cap and leads, and drying them overnight in the airing cupboard the thing worked first time every time without any WD40. Pity the rest of the car didn't