What can you tell from looking at this distributor cap? Wht kind of potential problems would it cause?

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

That your car has over 150K miles on it and the distributor cap and rotor have never been changed. That's my guess.

What if a car hasn't been driven for years would that be a possible effect?

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

What I can tell is that it's completely worn out.

If you're using it, pitch it and get another.

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Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

How often should the distributor caps and rotor be changed.
What is the average lifespan.

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benzino

50,000 to 60,000 miles, more or less. Will run over 100,000 if you don't mind the lousy performance and bad milage from poor ignition.

Lino:

You have considerable wear on the electrodes, quite a bit of splatter, and con-committant cross fire and missfire. Probably runs like crap cold and damp from grounding out, too.

Check the wires for signs of arcing, particularly the wire from coil to dizzy. If you see spidery whitish patterns on metal or plastic parts the wires touch, it's time for new ones.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!