My EA82 wagon has a slight, random misfire. Recently, I've been pretty determined to find the solution.

 

About 20,000 miles ago, I swapped the long block. Used my old distributor, but got new spark plugs (NGK BPR6ES-11), new spark plug wires (Import Direct 40975), new distributor cap (Import Direct 10-0199), and distributor rotor (Import Direct 12-0186). All parts I got from O'Reilly Auto Parts. Before starting the engine when I installed it, I accidentally hydrolocked it with coolant. I pulled the plugs and cleaned out the coolant. I also accidentally had two of the spark plug wires mixed up. But once I got it all sorted out, I was driving fine. This is when I first noticed the slight misfire.

 

Flash forward to today: I've currently got new plugs (NGK BPR6EY-11) and new wires (NGK 9350) coming in the mail. My current spark plugs don't look abnormal. I think having NGK wires will make a big difference, but I have another issue. My distributor rotor seems to be making serious contact with the cap.

 

There's virtually no up-and-down play in the shaft, nor side-to-side. There's some rotational play, but since it's supposed to be spinning, I don't see how that could cause it to do this. Could it be the wrong parts? What have you guys used for your cap & rotor?

 

I figure what I'll do is grab another distributor from the junkyard. Get a new cap and rotor as well. Besides shaft play, how can I tell how good the distributor is? Is there a way to clean it once I get it home? I have a good feeling that this is what's causing my misfire, since my misfire seems to be very random. It's not necessarily on one cylinder, and it misfires at random times (once every 1-5 seconds).

 

 

 

have a talk to the areas that are contacting with some fine sandpaper......

 

i have had to do this on the last 2 dizzy caps/rotors that i have put on the EJ.....i guess the chinese rotors and caps that are all that is available nowadays don't have the quality control that the real deal jappo stuff had

Maybe I'll try that. I'm thinking of getting a new distributor anyways. I kinda think my misfire issue is a bad fuel injector, so I'll probably be replacing that too.

Pwerhaps you have spfi and mpfi parts mized up. the turbo cap and rotor are taller than spfi. The spfi should hae a round shaft on the dissty, and mpfi has a D shaft. same for cap and rotor. Round rotor fits on D shaft, but not the other way around. Maybe i have theis backwards which one is which, but there is a difference for sure, denso, hitachi. Good luck

When I replaced the parts last year, they were direct replacements to what I had on there. Rotor and cap looked the same, and I don't recall the old parts having this kind of damage (I didn't look).

 

I'm going to the junkyard today. Gonna grab a distributor and pick up a new cap and rotor.

I guess I should've entitled this thread something more according to my misfire issue.

 

As I was driving to the junkyard, she was misfiring way worse than before. I could really feel it while driving, and going up hills was difficult.

 

Grabbed a distributor from an '89 Subaru DL (only 109K!!). Got the cap and rotor too. Installed it, but made no difference. I also grabbed the fuel injector from that car, installed it on mine, and my car was still misfiring. Except now it wouldn't idle too. Reinstalled my old one and I was back to where I was before. Grabbed the ignition coil from the DL, installed that, but didn't make a difference.

 

On the way back, the misfire was still there, but not as bad. I'd only really feel it when going up hills. Engine still shakes like a wet dog at idle.

 

Getting the new plugs and wires on Friday. Hopefully it'll work.

may want to test your coil too...

Tested the resistance on both the coil I grabbed from the junkyard, and my old one.

 

New (junkyard) coil:

Primary=1.35 ohm

Secondary=10,800 ohm

 

Old coil:

Primary=1.40 ohm

Secondary=9,650 ohm

 

According to this quote (quoting the FSM), it looks as though the primary resistance is a bit high (mine is a Hitachi).

 

 

Nippondenso coil;
primary = 1.13-1.35, secondary = 10,795-14,605

Hitachi coil;
primary = 1.04-1.27, secondary = 7,360-11,040
according to the FSM.

Check the coil primary windings with the meter leads on the + and - terminals.
Secondary windings are from the + to the center terminals.

 

Should I just go to the junkyard and find a bunch of EA82s, test the resistances, and find one that works? I remember reading over and over that aftermarket coils are a death sentence, since they don't like the horizontal positioning.

I don't think there's enough difference to cause your problem....others may feel different.  But you said you already swapped out a replacement and there was no change so this doesn't appear to be your issue.

Edited July 2, 201411 yr by Dee2

Been doing some research and seems like the fuel pump could be an issue too? I changed out the fuel filter a while ago, but I might throw another new on there. Or better yet, I should buy a fuel pressure gauge.

What type of distributor do you have? If it is a crank angle type (slotted wheel with optical pickup), you can remove the dust shield by undoing the two screws and clean the dust out with MAF cleaner.

Edited July 2, 201411 yr by MR_Loyale

I was looking for those screws, but it doesn't appear to have any. I'm pretty sure it's not the crank angle type, but I could be wrong.

I was looking for those screws, but it doesn't appear to have any. I'm pretty sure it's not the crank angle type, but I could be wrong.

 

There is a rubber ring covering the screws. You need to remove that ring. It just lifts off.

I recently had the same issue with the rotor and cap on my 87 subi... my guess is that they were miss matched or something along those lines... probably auto zone's fault... it never ceases to amaze me how 75% of the time i go there they screw up the years for my parts. I went to Baxters and bought the RIGHT ones and no terrible rubbing.

I've seen this before and simply replacing the cap and rotor solved the issue.  I've even seen it happen with brand new cap and rotor.

Probably just sub-par parts.

I'd simply replace them first, unlikely it's anything but something like that which has been seen before.

 

Make sure you get the correct part.  I think all EA82 caps/rotors are the same?

But what about EA81 - those are probably different and could be confused as they were available until 1988.

Distys came as Hitachie and NipponDenso.   Make sure your cap/rotor is compatible with your disty.

Nice job with the multimeter... I told you it would be your friend... ha!

Okay, well in terms of my car's misfire, it seems to have been fixed with new wires. Lesson learned:

 

Only use NGK 9350 wires on an EA82.

 

Finally, my engine sits still in the engine bay. No longer is it shaking. As far as the distributor goes, yes, the cap & rotor are the right ones. Currently running the Hitachi distributor, cap, and rotor from the '89 DL. Considering it only had 109K on it, I bet it's all original. The cap isn't as damaged as the photos above, but it's been slightly chipping away at the contacts. Guess that's kinda normal? 

.

 

 

Grossgary said "  I think all EA82 caps/rotors are the same?"

 

I've come across three different caps for EA82 all by Hitachi. First is the carby style with spring clips to secure the cap to dizzy.

 

Then there is the mpfi ones using screws to secure to dizzy. Series 1 EA82 - we uses a Bosch numbering system and it is GH617  and then the spider XT turbo at least uses a common Nissan cap not found listed for Subaru from memory - GH623

As for rotor buttons, first series get GH605 for mpfi, not sure on XT spider

Edited July 4, 201411 yr by jono