Tom's wet runnin or lack thereof...

[jmbrodsky@domain.elided]

        Principle Ed Rooney (AKA Tom Harais),

        My wet running condition was due to the lines from the electronic 
reluctor being worn thin on the insulation.  The previous owner let the wires 
wiggle around in there and they were rubbing the fan/AC belt.  Welp, it worked 
fine when dry, but when it got wet, the gold box was reading the closure of the 
wet wires instead of the reluctor trigger wheel.  Great.  A bit of electrical 
tape got me home, then I took the wires out, crimped them, soldered them, then 
heat shrink like crazy and voila, no more wet running woes.  Course, if you have
points, this is all a waste of time for you,

        Enjoy,

        Joel

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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 09:41:19 -0700
From: "Tom Harais" <tjhemh@domain.elided>
Subject: Re: Alcan springs, rocker panels, waterproofing, other

Thanks Terry:

I remember that too!

The idea was that the inner tube would seal the joint between dist cap and
distributor itself as well as cover and vent holes on the body of the dist
cap.  

Like I say, I have never figured out what is exactly getting wet such, that
it kills the spark.  On the other hand, I've always suspected inside the
cap, because that is the common problem.   Water isn't generally going to
hurt the primary side - 12 v - but it doesn't take much moisture, even just
in the air inside the cap, to let a secondary- spark @ 20,000 volts - go
astray and find ground long before it jumps the plug gap inside the
cylinder.

The interesting part I remember in reading that article many years ago, was
the statement they made that Scouts were "very sensitive to moisture". 
They did not say why they felt this way or in comparison to what.  But the
inference was that puddle hopping caused problems in a Scout but not in a
Jeep.  I had guessed it was as simple as the distributor being up "front

and center" on the IH motor and more prone to spray and such coming through
the radiator or up from the front end.

Comments anyone?

Tom H.

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