distributor squeak??
 

94 S10. When I first start the truck, when it's cold, the distributor under the cap squeaks like crazy or like a bird chirping, loud. Once it is all warmed up, it is quiet. Tried a new cap and rotor, no difference. Why is this?

there are bushings in the shaft of the distributor that go bad. Time for a new one, not just cap and rotor

That's what I was thinking, bushings, but weird how it goes away once it is warmed up. I was thinking about squirting a little PB Blaster down the shaft.

eh,try it. my dads distributor has a light squeak. been doing it since last summer. Truck still runs good,so until its obnoxiously loud or the truck starts stumbling,its gonna be there.

Mine started doing this... and it magically stopped after... :icon_fryingpan:

It is so loud untill after 15 minutes of driving!! Then it goes away. I pulled the cap, I was going to squirt a very little amount of PB Blaster down the inside, but I could not even figure how to access the inside of thr shaft. The shaft feels very tight as well. 94 s10 Vin W, 178,000 miles. If I replace the distributor, what is the best brand and where? Is it one of those blazer pain in the ass jobs?

im gonna be changing my distributer out as well either tomorrow or the next as my truck stumbles on acceleration and missfires and i changed the cap and rotor out a year ago.

My only real hesitation with pulling the distributor tomorrow, is for the LIFE of me, I can't find the timing tab on the timing cover to shine the timing light. I see the mark on the harmonic balancer, but where in the hell do you shine the timing light??? Too much **** in that engine bay. Someone tell me

if you have the vin:W cpi engine then you will have to remove the intake plenum. You can bearly see where it goes. I can get a picture for you later today but your gonna look down from the driver side where the plenum would be. Changing the dizzy isnt very hard. Just dont mix up them plug wires! And please set that timing right, i belive its 0. I've gotten 3 trucks that were set like a sbc at 7degrees advanced, they had no power in the top end and made some funny noises.

Oh yeah, dont start the truck with the dizzy out. Gotta line up the oil pump drive. if the drive doesnt line up it will sit just a couple mm up. You either get it to sit right or 180 out.

A picture would be great! I have looked and looked with flashlights. I don't know why I can't find the tab

here you go. i have to put my head on the left side of the hood prop and have my chin almost touching the core support. you can see the notch in the close up pic.

Wow, you kick s10 Ass. I do believe, I know eher you are talking about. I've got to clean some grease and build up, but I think we are looking at the same spot. That "v" I assume is the 0 degrees? Thanks for the pics

Yes, the V is 0°.

Okay, so thanks to your pics, I indeed found the tab. Removed the underneath skidplate and got the tab nice and clean and put white out in the timing mark on the harmonic balancer. I noticed there are two marks. Ofcourse only 1 lined up with the 0 mark and putting the rotor on the number 1 spark plug wire. Anyhow, I pulled the distributor. The play was from the upper part of the unit, the lower seemed tight. I scribed marks as best I could prior to pulling due to the limited space. Installed the new distributor in, got the rotor to drop in perfectly on the first try and lined up scribe marks as close as possible. So, no surprises. I will try and start tomorrow after work. It "should" start and atleast be close enough to run, "should"! I located the brown wire under the rug to time it to 0 degrees. I just hope it starts! Will update tomorrow. Thanks for all the great information! This went too easy so far, I expect it not to start, nothing on this Blazer comes without a challenge!

how the heck can you get it in then wait till next day to start it? the suspicion would kill me lol.

So, it started up immediatly. Great, but ran a bit off. So I got it warmed up, then unplugged the brown wire and proceeded to time. I rotated the distributor till it was on 0 degrees, problem is it ran horrible at 0 degrees. Shut it down, reconnected brown wire and cleared the DTC. Started it, ran horrible wanted to stall. I then advanced the timing off the 0 degrees and it started to run much better. Why can't I get it to run right at 0 degrees? Could the 175,00 balancer no longer be accurate?

Update: So I guess the harmonic balancer is just plain off. I turned the crank until I knew for sure the number one piston was at top dead center. It corresponded with the rotor being right on the money. But the mark on the balance was about an inch off. So I drew a white line with whiteout next to the timing tab. Started it, disconnected the brown wire and turned the distributor just a hair which lined up 0 degrees to my new mark, and it runs great, best part no more squeak. Is it normal to have the balance so off? Lastly< as I am use to working on much older cars with simply ignition systems (no ecm's) Is there any benefit to advancing the timing from zero? Any performance increase or does the ecm just cointinute to control the timing?

there isnt really a benefit to advancing it. Sometimes that happens with the balancer. At least you knew enough to correct it. If its too advanced you can here a strange low gurgling noise from the intake when you rev it. You have to be near the intake when you rev it and have the air cleaner assembly off. That's how i knew mine was off 7 degrees.

You could not be more correct! I have one of those K&N filters, and When it was too advanced I heard that sound, LOL! Thanks for all your help. Now onto the next part to spend money on!!