Deadeye

Started changing plug wires today and when I lifted the coil wire from the upper distributor I found a light colored dusty powder on the distributor post and inside the boot. Is this indication of a bad wire, bad coil or ??? New distributor, rotor and spark plugs apx 10 months and 5,000 miles ago. Also, has anyone slightly lifted the varioram intake to get at the plug wire loom?
Thanks,
Dennis
'96 C2 w/ 72K miles

Deadeye

Anyone??

Jeff96-993

Dennis, don't know about the powder, but as far as replacing wires you can do it without removing the intake manifold. You just need to be a bit of a contortionist and endure some pain as you're jamming your hand and arm between the runners.

One trick I used is to tie a ratcheting screwdriver to my wrist. That way when it slips from your fingertips it doesn't get lost under there.

Deadeye

Thanks for the tip Jeff. I did notice a little arcing last fall at that distributor one dark night. Not enough to cause a skip or a rough idle, but that's the reason I'm changing the plug wires. I've never seen that symptom on a distributor before.

geolab

All brand new beru spark plug wires come with a whitish powder on them.
even several sorts of bushings come with this powder from the dealer.
Heard majority of greases eat the rubber, thus powder is best, especially with the heat...

Deadeye

geolab, I found this condition only inside the boot on the distributor coming from the coil. All other boots and distributor posts looked clean/normal. The wires are certainly tired (dry & cracked) at 72K miles-I should have done them last spring when I changed the plugs.