the wife tells me today that her belt on her car is making a funny sound so .. i take it down to the store to see whats up ..and find out it`s a grinding sound .. so i pop the lid and it sounds like the distibuter but i think maybe the water pump if i rev it it doesn`t seem to change ..but it get loader and quiter just at idle .. i did a zc swap on it a year ago ..anyone had any problom like this before??

 

When you saw that your wife said it was a belt, is it a high pitched grinding noise? Check the water pump to see if there is any water coming out the weep hole. You should just be able to remove the upper timing belt cover and see it. It would be a slow leak. Or you may be able to see it coming from under the lower timing belt cover. Did you replace the water pump before?

 

ok it sound like a bad bearing but it` a not coming from by the timimg cover it`s at the other end of the motor (zc)it`s by the dis and where all the rad hoses go for heater and block... and no water anywhere..where it shouldn`t be.. you mean what i know!!!!

 

if you suspect a bad bearing, one trick is to take a long screw driver and touch it against certain components while your ear is on the other end. You should be able to hear more clearly where the sound is comming from. Just don't get caught up in your engine.

My sister's ('95 Grand Prix) had the air conditioning compressor clutch go bad this summer, so if you still have AC, try turning on the ac...the sound went away when the ac was on, and came back when it was off. (if I recall correctly) <--my experience

 

do what he said with the screwdriver.. my friends 94 hatch started making a noise exactly where you explained, turned out to be the distributor (rotor), it was slightly 'freezing' not quite stuck yet, but it made an audible grinding noise, and there was some pieces of plastic broken off in the distributor cap also, i'd say have a look at that..


[Modified by SlicedBread, 6:04 AM 2/13/2003]

 

hav`nt tryed the screw driver thing yet but is this somth`n com`n with zc motors i`ve seen a few thing where guys say they ate anther distibutor. i`m not sure what it is i will look tomorrow .. but i did put the cap off and looked but nothings lose..and is there a way to fix the distirbutor if thats it .. what goes on them?

 

you should try to take the whole distributor off, not just the cap, and try to turn the rotor, sometimes they freeze up like i mentioned above, try that..

 

Yes, thats what happened to mine too. Take off the dist. and spin the shaft on the end where it attaches to the cam. It should be easy to turn, very easy. If its hard then your bearings in it are bad n need to get a new/rebuilt dist.

 

yup! thats it the bearing gone in the distributor..now i tell the wife to call on a new one .....WTF $512 holly f`n **** i only paid 700 for the hole zc motor so i justed greased the hell outa the bearing a spun it until it losened up (band aid) put it back together and no more noise for now any ways ... can`t i just repace the bearing.. 500 bucks i don`t tink sooo

 

i'm assuming you mean 500cdn, but i'm sure you can find a used one from someone on this board, or from a local junk yard (88/89 integra)

 

US dollars or CDN? Anywho, i got my rebuilt distributor for $165 after core exchange. You COULD go to a junkyard and find one or buy a used one off someone, but you run the risk of those bearings being bad, or going to be bad soon also. You might as well just get a rebuilt one...

 

canadian $$ can`t i just put a bearing in it???i no they don`t have kit for them but i got to get a 50 cent bearing... change it and be good to go right?

 

Nah, to change it you gotta take apart the distributor, and youll get to the part where you'll need a special tool. it looks sorta like a Torx bit, but with a hole in the middle of it too. IMO its just too much touble. A lot of places give you lifetime warranties on the rebuilt Dist. anyways, so if it every goes out again, you can just exchange it.

 

even though it may be easy to do.. i have no idea where you would find that specific bearing... but if you know, then go for it

oh 'torx bit with a hole in the middle' = tamper resistant torx, you can buy the bits and such from tool companies.