Hi, brand-new guy here. Over from Ram Truck Chat (since 2000).

I've just about finished the tune-up on my 2001 5.2 Ram. I've got the new plug wires all laid out and have installed the new cap/rotor and spark plugs. 2 questions came up:

The new rotor looks just like the one that was in there but the metal portion out on the end doesn't look bare metal like the old one. Is it coated in something? It almost looks plastic? Do new rotors need any kind of prep before installing them?

Secondly, the coil wire off the distributor comes off the cap and quickly into a sealed tube of wires and then pops out the other end toward the front of the valve cover. Do I cut into that sealed cluster of wires to pull it out and feed the new coil wire in or can I just run it over the the top and leave the old coil wire in there?

It's interesting that the manual makes no mention of changing the cap/rotor yet when I took them off they clearly looked pitted and worn in there at the contact areas.

Thanks,

Scott

 

Just drop the new rotor in there. I don't have a sealed tube for my wires. I have plastic clips that hold the wires together that are just screwed down onto the valve cover studs.

 

I went ahead and installed the rotor despite it's slightly different look. It turns out the coil wire was wrapped in the anti-heat tubing but run just under the bigger harness. It all worked out fine. The hardest part of the whole thing is fishing the new wires back in and around through those retainers and what-not.

The plugs, cap, rotor, wires tune-up can be done by just about anyone but it does take a little fiddling considering the distributor cap is buried back behind the valve cover. Well worth it after seeing the condition of the rotor and inside of the cap. I still can't believe I got to 60k with them.