88 distrib.

[Zanzer]

If you're talking about the little block that is about 1" square and 3/8" thick, you don't need that to make the car run. As a matter of fact, I take them off and throw them away.

X2

That's just a condenser to help suppress radio noise from the ignition system

[91mcnasty]

^ that would be quite frustrating!!!

[WmWatt]

A dab of epoxy should fix the crack.
Another symptom of ignition control module deterioration is intermittent stalling.
My '89 would stall. I would take a walk. When I got back the car would start.

[25Horseplay]

FYI any 88-89 dist will work, even an 89 auto which will give you a few more degrees of advance!

[denguy]

Good stuff........

[Festy46]

Thanks for the comeback......
would the car run if that little black box black wire wasn't connected?

If you're talking about the little block that is about 1" square and 3/8" thick, you don't need that to make the car run. As a matter of fact, I take them off and throw them away.

[Festy46]

Had the dizzy apart and managed to put a crack in the thin plastic inner cover piece. Could this by itself cause the car to run poorly or not run at all?

That thin plastic cover is just a dust cover and doesn't affect operation. The more probable cause would be the ignition module that is under that dust cover. Also check the wires from the module where they come through the distributor housing. They have a very sharp bend there, and with age, the insulation tends to crack and could be randomly shorting out to the distributor housing. Some symptoms of a bad ignition module are engine miss, won't rev up and acts like you have a wet ignition, or just completely dead. Sometimes heat will affect them and they will work when the engine is cold and quit when the engine gets hot.

[denguy]

Thanks for the comeback......
would the car run if that little black box black wire wasn't connected?

[TDI_ftw]

Wire goes to coil +, the crack might/might not cause an issue.

[denguy]

Had the dizzy apart and managed to put a crack in the thin plastic inner cover piece. Could this by itself cause the car to run poorly or not run at all?

Also wondering about the very small black plastic box with the black wire coming out of it attached to the head next to the disty. Where does the black wire go?
thanks