Chrysler Repair: 1997 Sebring convertible JXI. 2.5L rough idle, pro mechanic, contact spring

Question
Roland,

I tried to do a follow up but I couldn't.  This is about the 97' Sebring that I could not get to idle correctly.

I have finally fixed this car.  Thanks for all of your help.  I had to replace the distributor.  I got to talking with a pro mechanic (not Chrysler) at work and he said go back to the distributor and check it out AGAIN.  We talked about the spring loaded distributor cap for the “coil wire”.  He found it odd that the spring contact with the cap did not have any sort of button or carbon brush or anything at the end of it to make contact with the cap contact.  I went part searching for a brass cap and rotor and noticed that the parts store had a distributor in stock so I asked to look at it to see if something was missing off of my contact spring vs. a new unit.  The instant that I took it out of the box I knew what the issue was.  The insulator around the spring that projects outward and encases the spring and distributor cap probe was missing from mine.  That was the whole problem all along.  There was no indication that the insulator was broken.  The plastic was not fractured broken other than the insulator being gone.  The ‘nipple’ was molded in a crevasse so the base of the nipple was not visible to see a break.  Anyway, the coil was either grounding out or jumping to the cap leads.  The car runs great now.  What a pain.

Thanks again!


Answer
Hi Darren,
Thanks for that report. I wonder when that part was lost. Did you get the car used recently or can you tie its loss to the beginning of the problem. Ideally this is not a likely sort of damage/missing part situation that others would also encounter.
I appreciate your sharing that with us.
Roland