Had a strange noise from under the hood this morning ( a low pitch continuous whine) and managed to pin it down to the dist. cap. You can feel a vibration if you touch the cap, and if you push hard on the side the tone of the whine changes, so I'm happy that the noise is from the dist. somewhere.

I haven't pulled the cap or dist. (need to go and some tape to mark up the leads) but the cap and rotor arm were replaced about 3,000 miles ago.

The searches I've done suggest that the gear/bearing do-dah at the end of the dist. shaft may be worn. Can these things be re-built, or is it a new one.

Car ran perfectly yesterday, and if you ignore the whine, it still does now. No eratic running and stuff. (Car has better than 100k on it, and I would guess the dist. is original.)

Thanks.

 

that'll be Noise then.

 

UK,

Judging by the keyboard positions, it was either going to be "NOISE" or "MOIST". Your text straightened that out.

There can only be one explanaition - French Sabotage!

Yes, your distributor can be removed and repaired. The bearings in the distributor are plain bearings, or bushings. The noise could be caused by a dry bearing, or it could be wear that allows the distributor drive gear to mesh with the camshaft at an odd angle. You can remove the cap and check for excess wear simply by moving the shaft side-to-side.

It's also possible the distributor shaft is rising in the housing, allowing some misalignment at the gears. There is a thrust washer on the lower side to control this movement.

 

Thanks,
Guess I'm going have to pull the thing out.

p.s. The tabloid press in the UK are really going to town on the Frenchies!!

 

If you can't find replacement bushings in the U.K., you can get a distributor rebuild kit from several places. Mr. Gasket used to have the whole kit on a card - new gear and all.

BTW - There's a grass-root groundswell in the U.S. as well. I think the wannbees in Montreal are probably staying home. Not the normal Canucks, just those loud ones who think they still "wannbe" French. They forget what crown they are attached to. I think the Brits had a little something to say about that a few years ago. My wife is part French-Canadian, so you can probably imagine the banter around the house. I'm glad I bought a good, comfortable sofa....