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On 18 Dec 2002 at 11:21, Earthman? wrote: > Plus, I think WD40 will leave a slight film, which after time (especially in the presence > of high voltages) *may* gather a layer of 'dust' that *may* conduct electricity, creating > cross firing, etc.. While I never bother with anything other than wiping with a clean, or even oily, rag, I don't think WD-40 or LPS-1 would cause any problems. There's really no source of dust INSIDE the cap and oil is a good insulator. I keep both the inside and outside of my cap and coil nose clean, however, because dirt buildup, while generally non-conducting, can attract moisture and lead to problems. > The only thing I would ever 'spray' into a distributer cap is a high quality electronic > contact cleaner, it leaves no film... a good <99% rubbing alcohol will also clean up > moisture, but there you're inside massaging things, best only if you've removed it > completely. Nothing wrong with alcohol, but the contact cleaner would be a waste and most of it DOES leave a film which is meant to prevent oxidation of low voltage contacts. The center contact in our dist cap is a spring loaded carbon button, which is self cleaning, and the outer contacts never get any closer than 1mm apart, so surfact condition is irrelevant. If your spark won't jump this gap, it doesn't have a chance in the high pressure around the spark plug nose. It's just too easy to get carried away with this stuff. It really isn't rocket science and it generally doesn't take anything special to deal with them. You can even sand or grind away a carbon track as a temp fix, although the rough bakelite that this leaves behind will accumulate dirt faster and may break down again eventually. As long as I'm preaching moderation, let me repeat my admonition not to just "replace everything" when you suspect that you need a tune-up or are having ignition problems. Our SP cables are made up of a bunch of replacable parts, some of which can never be replaced if you throw them away. Hang on to the very special, very nice right angle dist cap connectors. You'll never find new ones anywhere. Condensers, if they are Bosch virtually never fail. I've never seen a bad one and I don't think Russ has either. Bosch dist caps last forever, too, unless you abuse them and crack them. The OE Bosch coil is as good as any you can buy and will never fail. Here are the things to look out for: Replace points which are too pitted to file down. Replace spark plugs when either electrode no longer has sharp corners on it. Replace SP wires (you can replace the WIRE only) when it is cracked, or so hard that it seems like it is about to crack. I sell it by the foot if you can't find it locally. Replace the brown bakelite SP connectors when they no longer measure 1000 Ohms. Replace the rubber air seals when they get too hard to conform to the engine shrouding and no longer seal. Everything else that people commonly replace should really just be left behind, because the original parts are better than the ones you can replace them with. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <type3-off@vwtype3.org> For more help, see http://vwtype3.org/list/