so i just got my z back on the road and i noticed that it was shaking again more than it usually does, the last time it shook like this was because my spark plug wire #5 from the cap wasn't plugged in and as soon as i plugged it back in the idle was smooth with no vibration. well when it started thumping again i noticed my clock was stuck on 5 I had to jump start my car because it was sitting for awhile and Ive heard that doing jumps can fry electrical components not sure if this is like a safety feature to tell me one of my cylinders is off or something but a closer look and i noticed my cap looked like there was some sort of corrosion on inside of where the wire goes in and there was this black soot that i tried scraping off. i ordered new wires not sure if i should order a cap???

I NEED INSIGHT PEOPLE!?

 

Sounds like flaky wires to me. Switch 'em out and see if the prob disappears. Make sure wires 'lock' onto plugs tight. Run motor in the dark and look for spark jumping from any wire to a wrong place... If that isn't happening, maybe check out replacing your distributor or just the cap etc. Sounds like you are zeroing in on the problem in the right area.

 

well i think it was the distributor. the socket i talked about looked burnt and there was actually another one that had this weird blue corrosion inside it. Replaced the cap, rotor, wires and plugs; hard idle went away plus my clock isn't stuck on 5 anymore. kinda weird cause i didn't start the car just turned the key and clock flashed 12:00 so not sure if it was suppose to tell me my cap was bunk but hey it did..