I'm working on my buddy's '93 Jimmy (W). He hasn't taken very good care of it and I'm trying to patch it together and keep it running for him for a couple more years. It has no compression. I'm pulling the heads right now. In the process I pulled the distributor cap off and it was all red. What causes that?[IMG][/IMG]

 

Old age of the cap and rotor, maybe rust off the metal piece below the the rotor(forgot the name for it). I have seen caps and rotors so old the fall apart in your hands as you take them off.

 

yeah probably rust and humidity. when i disassembled my water softener machine at my house a few months ago thats what all the electronics looked like and everything still worked, make sure everything spins and moves and isnt rusted

 

Junk buildup on the bottom plate of the distributor can trap moisture making the problem worse. A thorough cleaning along with a new, quality cap and rotor looks like all it needs.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. The metal ring below the rotor is loose and falling off so I'm likely going to replace the distributor when I get the heads back from the machine shop and get it all put together. It could use a decent cap and rotor as well.

 

when i did the intake on my 90 it kinda looked like that. one of the small bolts holding down the ignition module rotted in half and the other one was halfway there. truck ran fine too. i really dont know if theres a way to prevent this from happening again