Condensation in Distributor Cap

[bcpape]

OK, so now my 1998 V70XC has decided to throw a new problem at me. I get an excessive amount of condensation that forms inside the distributor cap. So much so, that it will stall the car and if by some dumb luck the car does stay running, it's only on a few cylinders. After I remove the cap and dry everything out, it runs perfect. This will happen just about each time the engine cools down. The cap appears to be fine. No cracks and the ventilation slots are all clean. Where the heck is the water coming from? The kicker is, I've never driven the car in rain or snow since I've owned it, so it's not like water is splashing up there. Any idea's?

[JRL]

Just buy a new cap and rotor

[bcpape]

I sort of suspected that the cap was not the problem, only where it was being seen. I took of the cap, rotor and the mounting plate the hold the rotor on and the camshaft seal behind it was just sort of floating there. It could be that it was actually blown out prior to my changing the PCV system over.

What I did yesterday was dry out the cap (again) and start the car, let it come up to temperature. I had already removed the airbox to give some room. I then quickly removed the cap. The sunlight was hitting it just right and you could see the steam vapor coming out of the top of the housing. It was coming up through the oil return port for the front cam. Just enough to steam up the cap. Picking up a new seal after work.

Stay tuned...