hello everyone! i own a '81 brat with an EA81 and hitachi dist. 180k and still running strong!! synchros in tranny acting up a bit but not bad, i just double clutch to line back up when being difficult. now heres my problem. i'm getting a small ticking, about 500 rpms worth, constant, with no noticable engine surge showing on my tach and a faint grinding noise comming from dist. when it ticks. any ideas?? MY FIRST POST, YAY!!!

Welcome to the board...what kind of noise is coming from the disty? grinding..tapping? scraping?

Hey I live in eugene also.! Or is it cap and rotor? worn out and just arcing bad?

[HTi]Johnson

i think someone posted something like this recently.. not sure.. anyways, i think they said it was bad bushing, or loose disty shaft... something like that was causing some grinding/scraping noise...

Welcome to the board...what kind of noise is coming from the disty? grinding..tapping? scraping?

Hey I live in eugene also.! Or is it cap and rotor? worn out and just arcing bad?

[HTi]Johnson

 

it's more of a scraping noise. replaced cap and rotor. still same. its the bouncing tach. needle thats got me stumped. and i occasionally get a horribly loud scraping noise when i start it. not starter, checked that. it didn't start acting up until the bouncing needle started.

so is it possible to just replace the bushing or am i looking at another disty??

Just got mine fixed with the same problem. It is the bushings in the distributor. I got a good used distributor for it and it is fine now. Mine started out making 300 RPM jumps and went to 1000 with in a week. Didn't want to have a bigger problem down the road, so I replaced the distributor. $50 including shipping. New was anywhere from $169-$194.

And yes you can most likely replace the bushings, but I choose not to mess with that. Every since I was a little kid(many moons ago) I would take things apart and not get them put back together again.

replacing the darned thing sounds like the best idea yet!! popped the disty cap and found a little more movement in the shaft than i feel comfortable with. now the trick is to find one. *sighs*

Hey I'll check the junkyards for ya, if you don't have time.

[HTi]Johnson

Hey I'll check the junkyards for ya, if you don't have time.

[HTi]Johnson

 

thanks, called around to the local yards, no luck. i'll have to think of something else. may just have to find a junker cheap that has spare parts. but thanks anyway....