new distributor, but my wires are soaked in oil. could this be the problem?
What problem?
I can tell you that wires soaked in oil can destroy the insulating cases and creat shorts and arcs to ground, preventing the cylinders from firing, but you haven;t told us what your problem is.
I can also tell you that it’s not uncommon on a car that age to have high crankcase pressure due to waorn out rings & cylinders, manifesting itself as the oil being forced up under the valvecovers, and forced past long-compressed valvecover gaskets that have long ago lost their compression characteristics, and leak onto things like ignition wires. Also, spark plug tube seals can lose their ability to hold fluid back, exascerbating the problem.
Can any of this cause a car not to start? Sure, if it gets bad enough. But without knowing exactly what’s happening and what you’ve checked already it’s tough to guess. I’m going to guess that you have more going on than just wet wires.
As far as the oil is concerned, it could be that the valve cover gasket and the o-rings are leaking. Maybe your PCV valve is clogged or something like that.
i replaced the coil cap and rotor and it wont start
Let’s start with the basics:
Do you have spark?
What happens when you spray some starter fluid into the air intake?
Oil all over your cables is indicative of something, no doubt. Have you taken your plugs out to see what they look like?
little spark thats why i got a new coil tried a little fuel in intake and still wont start
hmmm … how did this all begin? Was it running fine then one morning you tried to start it and it cranked but would never catch and run? Need a little more history to be of help.
yea it was running fine but the d4 light on the dash stays on so i un hooked the computer and pluged it back up the light went out but next day nothing
Usually, if the distributor goes bad in these cars, you get no spark at all. It’s a shame you replaced it because that’s an awfully expensive part to just throw at the problem when you have a glaring clue in the oil soaked wires. I would say the next step is to replace your valve cover gasket, which will come with new tube seals, which is causing your wires to become oil soaked. You also need to replace your wires since they are ruined by the oil, and new spark plugs wouldn’t hurt if it’s been a while (at least remove them and clean and regap if you don’t replace them).
Does “D4” refer to the transmission selector? Drive-4th gear? Unless that came on at the same time the car wouldn’t start, I doubt it is related to your starting problem.
Car’s won’t start for a variety of reasons. At a minimum they need gas and and spark w/proper spark and valve timing. Have you verified you are getting a spark at the spark plugs?
whats the chance its plugs and wires
It’s possible there’s a problem with the plugs or the wires. The wires shouldn’t be coated in lots of oil. That’s an indication of a problem, but it may or may not be the reason it won’t start.
Did it ever start and run after you unplugged the computer and reconnected it? If not, I would say something went wrong there. If the car was running fine before this happened, no misfiring, stumbling, etc, this reduces the chance it’s as simple as plugs and wires. Usually, the engine will develop a misfire if the oil contaminated wires become a problem. Plugs and wires don’t just up and die without warning.
yea it ran fine i started it 10 times after that i dont understand whats wrong
A good one if they are soaked in oil but there’s an underlying problem you need to fix first, it seems.
Oil all over your wires isn’t normal.
will new plugs and wires make my car start
Sorry - I left my magic 8 ball at the office.
Seriously, anyone that tells you ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for that matter is guessing. We don’t know enough about your problem. You have not really mentioned much at all.
my problem is my car will crank but wont start and oil on my wires
Do you have spark?
yes in wire i checked and i replaced the coil