Some say the only cap & rotor to buy is the AC Delco brand...I don't know on that.
I've heard the same--but--the concern is getting a GOOD QUALITY cap and rotor, not buying a specific brand. AC-Delco is seen as a good quality cap and rotor; but that doesn't mean they couldn't change suppliers or cheapen their product. Nor does it preclude other manufacturers from making as-good-or-better product.
Last "Vortec" cap and rotor I bought were from United Motor Products; brass terminals and a vent in the top of the cap. Learned about them from this web site; although I forget which actual person (but I think they posted in this thread.) Likely HotWheelsBurban.
@Schurkey Do you have a recommendation for a good distributer for the 5.7 Vortec?
No. I'm not thrilled with the OEM plastic housing; and I'm not thrilled with anything made in China. Nobody goes to China to improve quality, they go to China to improve profit margins.
If you're lucky, the product is specified by competent engineers, it's made to meet those specs, the Chinese didn't cheat or cheapen, and the Communist Collaborators in this country are doing proper QA on the incoming parts. That doesn't always happen. In fact, it's altogether too rare.
I bought a nearly-new Summit-brand Vortec distributor for 5.0/5.7 engines, used, from a forum member here. He sold it because he couldn't get the cam sensor/crank sensor outputs to synchronize. We both think the distributor was made incorrectly. The difference is that I'm willing to abuse the distributor in order to improve alignment; and he was sick of it. We both got what we wanted out of that deal. That distributor is parked on a shelf in my garage until I "get around" to dicking with it.
I have zero faith that other "brands" of distributor are any better. Truth is, I expect they're all made by the same bottom-feeder Chinese manufacturer, put in different boxes, and sold under thirty different brand-names.
But I've been wrong before.
Ya I'm sure the aluminum distributor base I have is made in China. I would have to look up the name but "bravex?" comes to mind. I bought it based on practically perfect reviews on amazon.
I nearly-always read the Amazon reviews; and I select or reject based on what I read. Having said that, I'm
also aware that many reviews on Amazon and other web-sites are falsified. I've had sellers ask me to falsify or retract my negative reviews; I
know that reviews get screwed-with.
I dont have the right scanner to fix the cam/crank correlation and chickened out.
I have heard of using a cut-open distributor cap to inspect alignment of the rotor tip to the distributor cap terminals. Twist the distributor to achieve best alignment. "I guess" that works. I've never tried it, and I don't plan to. This is why I have a scan tool.
When I bought my '97 K2500, the "Cam Offset" or cam sensor/crank sensor alignment was at 29 degrees. I turned the distributor until I got within 2 degrees as shown on my scan tool.
I do have a couple apps and a bluetooth dongle though. I dont have torque pro but I do have dash command and I think it is capable I just have not tried.
Worth looking into.
yes it is a bravex. the distributor has brass contacts.
Two things to know about "brass contacts" on the rotor and distributor cap.
1. Brass does not conduct as well as aluminum. The advantage is that it doesn't corrode like aluminum. Nothing wrong with aluminum terminals if they're appropriately maintained.
2. The cap and rotor are mostly "plastic". There's ten thousand kinds and grades of "plastic". Brass terminals molded into cheap, thin, fragile plastic doesn't make a good product.
A couple of the toughest no start issues I learned on is to check the resistance range of electric parts. I had a truck that had fire to the plug but would not start. Long story short is the Primary and Secondary coil ranges were not into spec.
Absolutely. Ignition coils can become "weak" while still producing some spark. And failed / partially-failed ignition coils are among the primary causes of failed ignition modules. Another cause of failed modules is that they're knockoff junk created to maximize profit in some hell-hole country.
Another issue was doing Continuity Checks. a 50 strand wire with 49 wires broken will pass a resistance check. Best to do the resistance values per manual.
ALSO absolutely true. A "voltage drop" test can be more telling than a resistance test because the "voltage drop" (VD) test involves real-world amperage load, while an ohmmeter uses a microscopic amperage/voltage.
In a dark garage or dark highway. I have popped the hood and looked for blue arches. Usually if this trick finds anything it is plug wires shorting against something.
Two separate "inspections".
1. Looking and listening for the flash of light and "snap...snap...snap" of an actual arc from plug wire to ground
2. Looking for glow around one or more plug wires/coil wires; indicating "corona effect" without an actual arc. Corona effect indicates partial loss of spark power, while an arc indicates a total loss of current (amperage) to the plugs.
