There is a rattling noise inside my dizzy that has been there ever since the dealership rebuild my head when my timing belt snapped.

I took it back the DAY AFTER and complained and the head mechanic sould not to worry about it and its fine.

But not my R is sputtering in high rpms, and after a compression test, I believe its the dizzy thats just falling apart. I am checking the valves and everything when I open the head up with Brad (mythias) to install my new cams, but a buddy of mine at Agile Performance took a listen and said it (the dizzy) was shot.

My question is should I try and talk to the dealership about getting screwed or just suck it up and buy a new one for $220 with a lifetime warrenty?

Thanks guys.

 

Def the dizzy. How long ago was your car in for service? If they have it on paper saying that you came in the day after with a prob I would say go back to the dealership and fight for an oem replacement.

 

Sounds like the screw holding the cap on came out and did some damage. Its the same thing happened to mine and many others..

 

the oem rotor screw is notorious for backing itself out

 

so should I open it up and see first or do you all think its just shot?

The only problem with the dealership is that they KNOW me and my R and that I brought it back but its not on paper. And also, my warranty was on the valve train and timing stuff, not the Dizzy.... I don't know how far I would get with them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BlueR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the oem rotor screw is notorious for backing itself out </TD></TR></TABLE>

I was thinking the same thing.

 

I'll third the OEM dizzy cap screw coming out. Happened to me. You won't be driving it much longer if it's sputtering now. In fact, don't...you may be able to salvage part of it and save yourself some money. Don't know the circumstances of the rebuild and the dizzy, but you might be able to argue it's installation error. Good luck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by typer_801 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'll third the OEM dizzy cap screw coming out. Happened to me. You won't be driving it much longer if it's sputtering now. In fact, don't...you may be able to salvage part of it and save yourself some money. Don't know the circumstances of the rebuild and the dizzy, but you might be able to argue it's installation error. Good luck!</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree on stopping the driving for now. You may be able to salvage the rotor or ignitor.

 

Call Distributor King & tell Sylvain I sent you.

After you pull the cap off, you'll see the screw & probably some plastic shavings along with a chit load of dust rolling about.

Good Luck

 

verify nothing inside distributor is loose before proceeding w/ further action.

 

ok thanx guys... the only problem is that I do not know alot about distributers or what I am looking for when I take the cap off....

Could someone try and point me in the right direction? Because if I need a whole new one I only have one day with Brad down in MD helping me and I don't know how hard dizzy's are to install....

 

if you need to replace the whole dizzy then you are not going to be able to do it yourself without a timing gun and you also have to know what you are looking for when the gun start flashing

 

Why are you so against taking the cap off and taking a look...chances are you have a loose screw rattling in there and it needs to be fixed before you drive the car any further.

It may have taken out part of the TDC sensor which could explain the hesitation at higher rpm.

Get the cap off, take a look and go from there....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by totsie7944 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok thanx guys... the only problem is that I do not know alot about distributers or what I am looking for when I take the cap off....

Could someone try and point me in the right direction? Because if I need a whole new one I only have one day with Brad down in MD helping me and I don't know how hard dizzy's are to install....</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it looks like *** crap:


and


and your rotor screw is laying at the bottom...you're screwed

 

Budman, that looks more like the bearing of the Dizzy is going bad. I've never seen dust along with the screw coming out, just running problems and chewed up plastic, messed up caps, messed up rotors... and mine.... where it just sat and i'm the luckiest person ever

edit: and i just realized you said if it ALSO looks like this... hehe... yah... bearing and screw all at once would be FUN!

 

soo if it looks like that I should just buy a new dizzy? its only like 200 or something

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by totsie7944 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">soo if it looks like that I should just buy a new dizzy? its only like 200 or something</TD></TR></TABLE>

Have you looked in there?

If $200 is "only" then go ahead and buy one without every checking this one....hell, might as well buy a couple.

 

A very loose timing belt can also cause the distributor to rattle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by splitime &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Budman, that looks more like the bearing of the Dizzy is going bad. I've never seen dust along with the screw coming out, just running problems and chewed up plastic, messed up caps, messed up rotors... and mine.... where it just sat and i'm the luckiest person ever

edit: and i just realized you said if it ALSO looks like this... hehe... yah... bearing and screw all at once would be FUN!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very good young padwan...this particular picture did have both (broken cover from loose screw - even WITH blue loctite and a crapped out bearing.) In my case, the bearing sounded like a rattle. We put the screw back in & the sound was the same.

I've had the damn screw come loose 3 times in 125,000 miles. I should quit having 'weenie arms' tighten them for me (let's see if Jim is listening - hehehe)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BudMan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I've had the damn screw come loose 3 times in 125,000 miles. I should quit having 'weenie arms' tighten them for me (let's see if Jim is listening - hehehe)</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've had that screw come loose even with loctite red in there....I believe that a modified engine heats up the dizzy shaft enough to melt the loctite right out, and it may even speed up the "self-removal" of the screw (once the loctite liquifies again it may act as a lubricant)

My dizzy self destructed a lot quicker once I put the loctite on there than it did without. For modified engines I would suggest checking the tightness of that screw very often.

I've since moved on to DistributorKing's dizzys, their caps are screw-less, and I've had no issues with the rotors.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b19coupe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A very loose timing belt can also cause the distributor to rattle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Didnt know about that problem. I just installed a new timing belt on my car and as stated in a previous post of mine I get a noise on cold start ups that comes from the distributor side of the engine. Its did it twice since I swapped out the timing belt for new one.