I've read with interest the problems some of the folks have had with
corroded wiring. Last year I suffered a similar experience. My wife took our
92 Dakota to visit our daughter. As she was leaving, the truck started
shuddering and lurching, then died. She re-fired it and it acted normal.
Turned a corner and it started lurching and shuddering plus backfiring, so
she nursed it a couple blocks back to the daughter's house and called me.
When I arrived I popped the hood and got lucky right off the bat. As I was
putting my peepers on the ignition wiring I noticed a little white stuff on
the coil wire where it enters the coil. Just as I touched the wire to clean
it up I ended up with the wire in my hand. It had corroded clear through.
Luckily for me it was an easy fix. But this, coupled with the other stories
I have read in the group's posts, lead me to believe that water or moisture
may not be the cause of the problems for the following reason. My coil wire
was located in a high and dry location. Plenty of air flow and engine heat
to keep it dry and its rubber boots were clean, tight and dry.
Normally a wire encased in rubber will not start corroding by itself,
especially copper, even if it is wet. My suspicion is that the Dakota's
wiring harness may allow two different types of metals to get too close
together, which start a corrosive reaction. I know if you mix copper with
other metals you can easily get a corrosive reaction. This is why
electricians take extra precautions when wiring a house, not to get their
copper wire next to metal pipes, even though they are incased in rubber.
So I am wondering if it might be the wiring connectors that are chemically
reacting with the wires, that is causing the problems, rather than moisture?
In my case it could be that my copper coil wire had a metal connector on the
end that reacted with the copper. Anyway, that's my two cents worth on the
corrosion problem. Any metallurgists out there?
Fred
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