Hey guys!

I'm hoping someone has dealt with this before.

I have a 2002 4x4 4-door Blazer and have been nursing it back to health after purchasing it from a negligent owner. About a month ago, I noticed that the engine was running pretty roughly, so I took apart the distributor cap and rotor and they were heavily corroded. I sanded off the corrosion and ordered a new cap and rotor - but not a delco/delphi set, just some cheaper brand. After sanding it down, the original cap/rotor worked perfectly, there didn't seem to be any issues. When I replaced them with the new aftermarket parts, I could hear a loud clicking from the distributor, but everything was tightened down. after a couple of days, that noise died down quite a bit. That was 2 weeks ago. Since then, the engine has been getting worse and worse, first missing here and there, and last night, it barely ran it was missing so bad. I know the spark plug wires are newer and plugged in tightly, so that's not the issue. Could it be this aftermarket distributor cap and rotor? I read a post here that said a few parts have to be replaced with delco/delphi only, and the distributor cap and rotor were on that list.

I'm going to have to park it until I figure this out - I'm hoping you guys can help me out!

 

Good chance thats it

 

Thanks... I'm guessing that's what caused the instability/misfiring...
The other thing I thought may be that the bushings are worn out on my distributor (pretty sure it's the original one with 150k miles on it). Is it worth spending 40 bucks on a cap and rotor, or 150 bucks on the whole new assembly including cap and rotor? Will my distributor fail soon anyways, or do these normally run forever?

 

You can get ac delco parts cheaper than that. What source are you using for parts?

 

I'm using RockAuto right now. What's the best source for Delco parts?

 

Rock Auto is my first choice, but I have found Amazon and Ebay to be good sources as well. Just be sure to research the seller and know for certain you are buying the correct part, especially on Ebay as it will tell you a part fits based on general criteria but these Blazers have a lot of differences from year to year and model to model.

 

I'm just getting the cap and rotor right now. I can always get the new distributor if this doesn't seem to fix it. Will post results when I slap on the new Delco parts.

 

Well dang! Don't you hate it when you look under the hood and your motor is now missing leaving a big hole where it used to be?

 

Rockauto has a 5% discount code posted on the forum. It is not a lot but it sure helps on the big orders!

 

Be sure to post what the first replacement parts look like after you take them off. Your note about hearing a clicking sound made me wonder if there was some sort of physical interference/mis-alignment of the parts.