Hi everyone my first post. Needing some help here have no clue what's going on. I'll try to explain what's going on. Have a 2003 chevy blazer, 4.3 L's vortex engine. A couple weeks ago we had two days of rain and wouldn't start. So replaced distributor cap and rotor. Started right up but clicking was coming from distributor cap. After doing research I took the cap and rotor back and got an AC Delco one. But its still making a whole bunch of noises from what seems to be coming from distributor cap. I took cap off three four times to make sure seated and all it is. Also looking at it I see no wear marks on where there's any hitting. Rotor has a little play back and forth but no wobble. The piece rotor screws down to seems to be a little louse is that normal is it suppose to be tight ? This is now my only car my other one blown engine. On very tight budget, been driving back and forth to work but very scared of the noise. Just took to two shops and they can't look at till next week and I don't know if I can afford to have them fix it. Any help would be aappreciated.

 

Does anyone know if the piece the rotor screws into is suppose to be loose? I'm gonna look at again tomorrow to see if there's any wear to cap and rotor. And see if that piece whatever its called can be or should be tight.

 

Remove the rotor and check under it to make sure you are not 180 out or somehow it's not going down all the way

 

these dists fail in three ways. 1 pu unit inside dist, 2 plastic ears on dist break leaving cap loose, on one or both sides allowing rotor to contact. Top of ribs inside cap and top of rotor, 3 the gears on the end of dist get worn out and shaft actually comes up 1/4 inch upon rpm increase.and can "rattle" clacking sounds of contact and or "hitting" also making for hard starts and engine miss (random) usually just P0300. Distributor is avail on amazon for 35-130 depending on vendor. I highly recommend getting an aluminum housed dist. My plastic one the ears broke was stranded had to super glue cap to dist. (Only in a pinch would this be an acceptable repair.) My .35 cents

 

The cam position sensor resides under the distributor rotor. Not to be confused with the crank position sensor on the engine.
It is difficult to get to and tricky to replace. It will crack with age and this allows moisture to seep in with damp, rainy conditions. This causes hard starting. I had this problem with my 2003 2 door 4WD and I checked everything except the hidden Cam Position Sensor. My SUV is parked outside on a dirt drive and not in a closed garage. I finally checked this sensor and replaced it. No more hard starting after rainy days. My battery and I were very happy.
I want to restate for the new Blazer/Jimmy owners on the list= for ignition parts, the experienced owners have always recommended the use of OEM parts only. That means AC Delco or Delphi manufactured parts only. Whether that old advice holds true in today's world of off shore manuf. because it it cheaper, I guess we will see.
I am not sure what one of the posters above: tvic meant by "pu unit inside dist" ? He may be referring to the hidden cam position sensor under the dist. rotor.

 

easiest to swap whole dist w an aluminum body dist prevents this issue, and the stripped screw holes in cap. Bought one off amazon for like 60.00 before tax and came w cap rotor plug and play. Delphi will be plastic and way expensive. Zero problems w my amazon buy. Original code was cam crank correlation bushing in dist was worn out allowing rotor wobble and misfire.

 

I agree it is easier to swap the entire distributor. At one time Skip White was selling a alum. body distributor /probably Chinese manuf./ for a very reasonable price..IIRC it was less than $60.00. Many on this forum bought them and used them as shipped. Others bought the entire unit, but changed out the rotor to an AC Delco rotor. Both groups liked them and had little trouble. Then Skip White stopped carrying them. I don't know why. I don't know who makes the distributors sold on Ebay and how reliable and trouble free they are. If anyone has bought one from E Bay lately, please give us a report including the price. You also remember that a new distributor Cam Sensor Retard has to be set to '0' + or - 2 degrees. Les Myer may have to help you with that.

 

Not ebay, but I bought one from Amazon over 3 years ago for $42.99, and it's been completely trouble-free. The cap and rotor that came with it appeared to be of decent quality, so I used them, but hung onto my old ones just in case. I have not needed to replace them.