OH-OH! Had to take my own advice today

At a junction of a rural road and a small highway, waiting for a break in the traffic to try and whip across when the car just DIED.
Extremely unusual behavior for my old bus, daily driver etc, but there I was, first in line with a bunch of cars lining up behind me waiting their turn to make it across the highway.
I cranked her over once or twice and nothing, so got out and waved the cars behind past. Most embarrassing!!

Once the path behind was clear there was enough of an incline to get her to roll back, so I put her in neutral and ran her back out of the way.

Checked the rev counter and all looked ok so popped the hood, re-plugged the air meter then moved over to the ignition side. My pal said “I’m guessing fuel pump” and I said, “I’m thinking rotor”. The rotor had left me stranded at the beach back last summer so I always carry a spare now.
Opening up the distributor cap, I saw the (old) spare rotor I’d installed back last year that got me going until I could get a new one. Of course, when the new part arrived I left the old spare in the dizzy and put the new one into the trunk as my new spare.

You guessed it. The old spare had failed. As soon as I installed the new rotor, we were off again. Total time from fail to up and running, less than 15min. My co-pilot was impressed, but I was just glad it wasn’t the fuel pump - once is enough for that little job, eh lads?

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I can understand why that would be embarrassing, but very nice work on doing a roadside repair!

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Good job Larry! Easy fix. I learned my lesson after two towing. Now I keep a cap and rotor in the trunk (boot). I have a life time replacement for cap and rotor at Autozone. The last rotor lasted about 3 years. Did you check if you can also have a life time replacement in CAN?

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Joe, I’m a Rockauto guy :slightly_smiling_face: so just buy a new one as soon as I install the one from the trunk. New one on the way (FACET brand)

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I guess the rotors have a softer tip then the caps contact points so you just have to buy the rotor which is pretty cheap.

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Larry, thanks for the good tip, I have to put a spare rotor to the boot. I already carry a spare fuel pump relay in the centre console armrest.