Got my car back from the shop, my mechanic replaced plugs, wires, rotor and cap and the starter. I did just replace the plugs and wires about 2mo ago but I burned thru 2 wires...I do recall noticing there was a serious hotspot on one wire then the boot to the plug was cold) I get the car back and for the first time in well the entire time Ive known it to exist (4 owners back) its damn near QUIET. All thats left is the low grumble from the exhaust...well unless Im romping on it...lol so anyways, my car's been having problems Ive been thinking may have been the fuel pump (wanting to die after the first start up of the day, died on me not once but 3 times in stop and go traffic, started running horribly and I mean HORRIBLY, felt like the cat was clogged but I had it checked and no back pressure...) and now it runs great, no miss, no chugging, no dying. The car now just up and goes instead of me trying to slowly work off the clutch and onto the gas thru pretty much all gears like I have been. Can a bad rotor and cap actually cause all those problems? Now what Id like to know is why my car got all of a sudden quiet after he did this work. I know he adjusted the timing after he put the rotor and cap on (he said it was a couple degrees off) but from my experience with timing it never affected the loudness of a car. Yeah, I did like the constant loudness of it...now every time I romp on it cops suddenly end up behind me

and is there a heat shield I can get for the starter? My last one crapped out cuz it was getting too hot (as it got worse and worse the longer it was driven, but it sits for 2 days and it starts first try)

 

even if a problem does not point to "tune up" parts being the problem, replacing them regularly (once a year or every 30K, whichever is first) is a good idea. it gives you things to rule out.

as for weather or not those could have been your problem, well yeah, that makes sense. bad cap+bad rotor=poor spark. poor spark means car runs rough, dies, does not make power. as for loudness... i don't know. perhaps, (all theory at this point) due to crappy spark your fuel was still in the process of combustion when the exhaust cycle began. that would make a car more noisey. but i don't know if it is actualy possable.

also, if you are burning plug wires you aught to get a set of boot protectors. my wires have been on for a good six months and still appear (and feel to the touch) brand new. it will be a long time before they will warrent replacement. (i am thinking 3 yrs at least.)

one other thing that would help you out in the heat department would be powdercoated headers so if you were looking for an excuse to pick up the street legal headers from pacesetter.. this is it.

"but honey, my exhaust is breaking my starter, i have to geat a new set of headers"

i am an evil genius!

also how come you never post on the crew site anymore? you were like a "one hit" wonder

 

Having owned both a 2nd and 3rd gen I can tell you that these cars just eat up Ign parts much faster then others. Not one good reason why but both cars have had searious strange problems that doing full tune ups fixed. Even when it wasn't time for one and of course I spent tons of time and money chasing other things first, instead of just doing it.

I have learned by now.

 

As for a starter heat shield, every one I found would not fit, they seem to only fit the larger v8 starters.

 

Nothing seems to be popping up in there, Im around here since its more active, but Ill check it out later, Im still waiting on a semi local meet

and yeah I HAVE been eyeing a set of headers for my car, seems like the logical thing to do lol but I want to get it fully paid off before I dump unnecessary work into it (buying it off a friend, just dont wanna put a bunch of money into and him go I want it back heres your however much Ive given him back)