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As the thread title says: 2003 SAN 210 with the Excalibur engine (5.7 GM). I've owned it for 6 years and it has always run great. Today I was out, no exception, running perfectly. We came through a river section between two lakes where we had to idle, then as soon as I gave it throttle, the engine coughed and died immediately. It would not restart, only a minor cough but no real action.
A quick look under the distributor cap showed me that the rotor had come off the metal plate it's supposed to be fastened to. I have noticed that the screws holding it down aren't great, they even come with loc-tite when you buy a cap and rotor kit. But it's been fine, so I let it be. At first I thought it had just come loose and that was that.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that one of the screws the holds the cap down has a broken threaded plastic mount that it's supposed to go into. This isn't the cap, but the plastic part below on the distributor. That broke out and the cap was really only held by the other screw.
Then I noticed a hole in the distributor cap, on the side, right above that screw.
So I think this is what happened: somehow with a bit of momentum and bad luck, when I accelerated that one particular time, the cap itself moved just enough that it interfered with the rotor and that broke the cap out from the inside, then caused the rotor to come off the plate it's supposed to be attached to below. Inside the distributor I found some bits of broken plastic and at least one of the screws that was holding down the cap - I haven't looked for the second one, rain came so I left the boat for the night.
Now I need to fix the part of the distributor that the cap screws down into.
Is that part of the distributor possible to purchase on its own? Anyone seen this before? Got any brilliant solutions?
In the short run I plan to find some way to hold down the cap better, and also to hold down the rotor better. I'm sure the boat will run fine once I do those two things, but I need a longer-term, proper solution for being able to thread the screw in and out that holds down the cap. Thoughts are welcome.
A quick look under the distributor cap showed me that the rotor had come off the metal plate it's supposed to be fastened to. I have noticed that the screws holding it down aren't great, they even come with loc-tite when you buy a cap and rotor kit. But it's been fine, so I let it be. At first I thought it had just come loose and that was that.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that one of the screws the holds the cap down has a broken threaded plastic mount that it's supposed to go into. This isn't the cap, but the plastic part below on the distributor. That broke out and the cap was really only held by the other screw.
Then I noticed a hole in the distributor cap, on the side, right above that screw.
So I think this is what happened: somehow with a bit of momentum and bad luck, when I accelerated that one particular time, the cap itself moved just enough that it interfered with the rotor and that broke the cap out from the inside, then caused the rotor to come off the plate it's supposed to be attached to below. Inside the distributor I found some bits of broken plastic and at least one of the screws that was holding down the cap - I haven't looked for the second one, rain came so I left the boat for the night.
Now I need to fix the part of the distributor that the cap screws down into.
Is that part of the distributor possible to purchase on its own? Anyone seen this before? Got any brilliant solutions?
In the short run I plan to find some way to hold down the cap better, and also to hold down the rotor better. I'm sure the boat will run fine once I do those two things, but I need a longer-term, proper solution for being able to thread the screw in and out that holds down the cap. Thoughts are welcome.
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