2001 Dodge Dakota Distributor Cap.

Locate the distributor cap The distributor cap is located under the car’s hood. Open the hood and look around for a plastic grey component near the centre of the engine. The distributor cap looks like a crown that has black cables connected to the spokes on its top.

The rotor button should be pointing to the number 1 position on the distributor cap when the number 1 piston is at top dead center (on the compression stroke). The pistons come up two times during the combustion cycle. Once for the exhaust stroke and again on the compression stroke.

Often, the rotor and distributor are attached directly to the end of the one of (or the only) camshaft, at the opposite end to the timing drive belt. This rotor is pressed against a carbon brush on the center terminal of the distributor cap which connects to the ignition coil.

Many modern cars have no distributor at all. The ignition is triggered by toothed timing wheels spinning with the crankshaft, which is much more accurate than points. Then there are individual coils for each cylinder, fired by the engine management computer. Some engines share coils between two cylinders.

Distributor caps and rotors are responsible for passing the voltage from the ignition coils to the engine’s cylinders in order to ignite the fuel-air mixture inside and power the engine. The coil connects directly to the rotor, and the rotor spins inside the distributor cap.

Here are some of the bad distributor cap symptoms you must know.

• Yelling Noises. Squealing noise from the car is the first sign of a bad distributor cap.
• Difficulty in Starting. Some of the bad distributor cap symptoms.
• Shaking.
• Stalling and Backfire.
• Difficulty Turning Over.

Symptoms of a Bad or Failing Distributor Rotor and Cap

• Engine misfires. Engine misfires can occur for a number of reasons.
• Car doesn’t start.
• Check Engine Light comes on.
• Excessive or unusual engine noises.

A faulty distributor cap can cause your engine to stall. Voltage must be produced by the spinning distributor rotor for the engine to keep running. If the rotor does not rotate properly, the engine loses power and stalls out as you’re trying to drive. The longer you let this go on, the worse it will get.

every 50,000 miles

A faulty engine distributor won’t spark, which will either prevent the engine from starting or cause it a running engine to fail. The distributor also disburses current to the spark plugs initiating engine performance. Check the Distributer Cap. Often the distributor cap is suspect.

The distributor rotor and cab are subjected to high voltage on a regular basis, meaning every time you turn on your vehicle, electricity flows through them. Because of this, they do wear out from time to time.

5) Engine Stalling – A faulty distributor cap can cause your engine to stall. Voltage must be produced by the spinning distributor rotor for the engine to keep running. If the rotor does not rotate properly, the engine loses power and stalls out as you’re trying to drive.

A backfiring or smoking exhaust can indicate either too much fuel or too little spark, both of which can bring about power loss. A backfire occurs when the fuel-air mixture does not fully ignite in the combustion chamber, but instead pops off elsewhere in the system.

A failing distributor cap will result in rough idle because the voltage is not being sent to the plugs at the proper time, or at all.

Symptoms of incorrect ignition timing are poor fuel economy, sluggish acceleration, hard starting, backfiring, or “pinging” or “spark knock”. Too little spark advance will cause low power, bad gas mileage, backfiring, and poor performance. Too much advance will cause hard starting and pre-ignition.

How do you know if your timing is too advanced? Symptoms of incorrect ignition timing are poor fuel economy, sluggish acceleration, hard starting, backfiring, or “pinging” or “spark knock”. Too little spark advance will cause low power, bad gas mileage, backfiring, and poor performance.