Waterproofing the distubuter

[Jonny Boaterboy]

Has any one tried the rubber "caps" that go over the distributor to waterproof it? Tuff toys 4x4 used to do one. I went through some water the other week..... OK I went a bit quick and got the dizzy wet and found myself running on 5 or 6 cylinders until it died at which point the wd40 had too come out which got him going again and then it all dried out and was fine. I'm not into deep water wading, I would just like to make the V8 a bit more resistant to water. I coat the whole engine and especially the coil and cap in wd40 to help with the resistance to water, but maybe the "cap" would do a better job?

 

[Skibum346]

Johny,

As an ex petrol head I've experienced the trials and tribulations of wading with a V(upto)8...and here is my advice... :-k

1. Use chain wax (spray for motorbike chains) on both ends of all the ignition leads.
2. Use some protection! Either the rubber caps or cut down 2l pop bottles (Top half for the coil, bottom for the dizzy)
3. Consider fitting a couple of small breather nipples to the dizzy and feeding a breather from you snorkel to a vacum source. (However, for this to work it's best to whip the dizzy off and ensure any other holes are blocked.

Using 1 & 2 above kept me going through some pretty heavy wading activities.  :dance: :clap:

The rubber caps worked well for me but they are incredibly fiddly to fit and only lasted about a year or so before melting due to exposure to hydrocarbons! I mean... come on... if yer gonna make something to go in an engine bay... make it proof against hydrocarbons!  :doh:

All the best

Skibum

[4fingers]

I've found from personal experience of messing about that what follows actually works:

Take your dizzy cap off, turn upside down and run a bead of silicone around the lip that sits on the dizzy unit. You don't need loads, just a nice bead. Allow this to set before replacing cap back onto dizzy unit. Top of dizzy now sealed.

Make sure all rubber boots at end of HT Leads are tight onto the cap, eg, no gaps where water can get in. I use a tacky grease (anti seize repels water) inside the ends of the rubber caps on the leads where they push onto the cap.

Do the same again on the spark plug ends of the leads making sure that the rubber caps completely cover the porceline part of the spark plug. This is a must as when cold water hits hot porceline the plugs will shatter!!

I used an old cooking oil bottle to place my Coil into and drilled a hole into the lid to allow the Low Tension Leads in and the HT lead to Dizzycap out Remember to use rubber gromet or a little bit of silicone just to seal the leads where they pass into the bottle lid.

To date I have had no problems what so ever.... I will post a link to a video of me trying out a home made snorkel and this home made water proofing kit at whaddon last year...

     <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3tH5hba7AyU"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3tH5hba7AyU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

 It's a little way in the video. Your looking for the White RRC.

[merrick]

no point in sealing the top up until you take the dissie out yurn up side down and see the two breather holes in the base seal those up fist or you are wasting your time

[davidlandy]

if u attached the vacuum hose the dizzy car it will surely suck in water - the other option is to plumb into the dizzy cap into an air pump lik eyou get with air horns , and run it when going thru water to pressurize the cap and keep the water out.

[4fingers]

no point in sealing the top up until you take the dissie out yurn up side down and see the two breather holes in the base seal those up fist or you are wasting your time

To be honest, I've never had a problem with the Dizzy Units tiny breathers at the lower part of its casing.
If the dizzy cap is sealed, (properly) any water that could enter via the breathers will be forced out due to the air pressure within the unit.
For example: If you take a glass and insert it upside down in a bowl of water, the air pressure trapped inside the glass will stop the water entering inside the glass....

Try it at home tonight and you'll see my reasoning....

I'm not crazy.... Honestly it works...

[Range Rover Blues]

My Tuff Toys kit turned into a gooey mess on the dizzy cap and started to be more of a liablity then a help, it's been int he bin a long time now.  I use spray grease on Blue with good quality components.

[Reggieroo]

A little bit of work & it will be great a wading, even deep water if you like.

This is mine ( the green rangie) in some really deep fords out with some good guys & gals from mud club in September, it was the only petrol one........... :shock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzEDY7P8Vps

The mods I have done are as follows: The breather holes on the bottom of the dizzy have had nipples fitted & pipes have been routed to the EFI housing & air box, silicone round the dizzy cap & the lead attached to the coil has some grease inside & duct tape wrapped round it to keep it sealed. I found this to be a weak point when testing with the jet wash but since the grease & tape its been fine. Also some nice new tight fitting leads where also fitted.

On that day fording I hadn't finished the dizzy mods by connecting the pipes or fitted the snorkel. I did have to stop for a quick WD40 service after a few fords but now the pipes are connected it should be even better................ ;) It was good that day for a V8 that was only half water proofed.http://

[Jonny Boaterboy]

No way! Thanks for all the advice, Sounds like the rubber boots are no good then, I think I will seal the dizzy cap with silicon, grease the spark plug leads where they connect to the plugs, cap, and coil using ... copper anti seize grease? or would waterproof grease be better, the type they use to grease the prop shafts on boats? and then coat the whole lot with the wax chain oil used on motor bike chains, if I still have problems build a cover out of plastic bottels. Does that sound like a good start?

Thanks for all the advice its been very helpfull

[muddyjames]

when I had my petrol series 3 I got some rubber washing up gloves and cut the fingers off and the pushed the ignition leads through and cable tied the ends shut. Worked a treat but it does need changing about every 6 months or so but at 30p each or even less now vat is going down it is a cheap way of sealing them all!!  :lol:

[merrick]

no point in sealing the top up until you take the dissie out yurn up side down and see the two breather holes in the base seal those up fist or you are wasting your time

To be honest, I've never had a problem with the Dizzy Units tiny breathers at the lower part of its casing.
If the dizzy cap is sealed, (properly) any water that could enter via the breathers will be forced out due to the air pressure within the unit.
For example: If you take a glass and insert it upside down in a bowl of water, the air pressure trapped inside the glass will stop the water entering inside the glass....

Try it at home tonight and you'll see my reasoning....

I'm not crazy.... Honestly it works...        if you do as you say the water does go some small way up the glass enough toget the inside of the dissie wet with the inevitable result of a missfire or stopage.

[300TDi Disco]

Cheers guys for the comments. I have been thinking myself how to make it more resistant to water. I had a problem not so long back with water being the ballast injector pack and it was running cra*. Its been sorted now but i am more careful with water. I will be doing some water proofing, so i will keep you updated as i go along.