Dist. Ticking

I was getting a slight ticking from the engine. i thought it was a sticky lifter so i had changed the oil and used seafoam to sort of clean things up a bit. it was still ticking so i inspected closer.
it is the distributor. i can feel the rotor knocking against the dist on the #6 point when running.
it does not tick all the time, just after i rev it up and let it idle.
i looked at the cap and it was slightly chipped on the outside and looks like it had gotten some moisture in there (white/brown residue). the rotor looked decent, but showed signs of wear

i ordered a new accel cap and rotor from summit racing and ill be putting in some new champion truck plugs too. i realize it might be the actual dist bearings that are worn. if so what would be a good dist. over OEM?

I´ve got a couple of old distributors, checked them for side play, really wasn´t much there. But there is a thrust washer between the gears and the bottom of the shaft housing, that was pretty worn (along with the gears). End affect is that the rotor/shaft lifts up pretty high, most of the play seemed to be up and down. Wiggle your distributor shaft left and right, gently pull it up. I haven´t found the thrust washer, but have found a new drive gear, at various sites. Imagine the cam gears are also worn some. But a new distributor gear will, halve the play, in the gears.
My distributor is pretty darned loud, never seemed to hurt much. Though the flutter, from the play, can´t be good for the idle.

I had a 69 Chevy Camero with the 230 straight 6 engine. Every 80,000 miles we had to change the distributor due to bushing wear. Bushing wear is more critical in a vehicle with Points. If the points don't open and close you have no spark.

With our electronic controlled engines in our XJs bushign wear is much less of an issue but is still an issue. I with you said how many miles on your XJ. From my experience changing a distributor at 80,000 miles is normal. It a wear item just like fan belts.

I paid my dealer for a "new" distributor, not a rebuild, and had them install it. I kept the old one, I did not seem to have much play in the shaft but what a difference in how it drove. I went back and talked to the mechanic and he told me worn distributor bushings can retard your timing. My 88 XJ 4.0 with the high alt CPS is a buzz bomb now. I had 135,000 on the vehicle when I had the distributor changed.

On a distributor I went back to the dealer and purchased new. I did not want a rebuild with an old sync sensor/camshaft positon sensor, I was replacing all the engine sensors.

Remember your factory distributor has served well, also depending on the year there may not be an aftermarket distributor for your XJ, never checked it but doubt there is one for my 88 XJ. Check out your dealer, a new distributor may be more resonable than you thought.

I tuned up my 87 4.0 the other day and it started doing the same thing. Wasn't doing it beforehand, afterwards it was, I thought it was a lifter or a valve at first, so I was sticking my head all in there listening, and sure enough, it was the distributor. Pulled the cap, and the #5 or 6 point in the cap had been getting hit and knocked some metal off the point. It was crazy, I hadn't seen anything like it, so I figured it was a bad cap, an advance auto part, (I've had many many bad experiences with them) so I've just let it stay and it doesn't hit anymore. How much was a new distributor from the dealer? I might look into that!

87 Pioneer, a new one from the dealer for our Renix XJ is not cheap. I think I paid $180 for mine. I was willing to pay that just to know it all new and that sensor was new. I have now replaced every engine sensor, engine computer and the idle air controller. The IAC does what the computer says, it does not give values to the computer to run the engine so I had not replaced it.

I am sold on sensor replacement for a vehicle over 10 years old. Sensors are new, and sensors break... between that time they degrade. Even it it still runs it not running optimal. Everytime I changed a sensor I would tell myself nothing changed, I am only doing maintenance, and to my shock the engine would run just a little better. It only something being the owner would notice.

I decided to replace the sensors on my 88 XJ while they are still available. I got a lot of the sensors from the dealer or from rockauto.com. I used dealer or standard brand components. Knowing the dealer parts guys helps out on a project like this.

mine is a 98XJ, 131k miles. I bought it like 5,00 miles ago. im not sure if the dist was ever replaced but it had new wires and plugs on it when i got it.

the old dist cap had alot of carbon and crud on the points. i could wiggle the shaft the rotor mounts to up about 1/8" and side to side 1/16"
it did not look like there was actual contact taking place though

after all was re-installed i can still hear the noise, but it is quieter

I just checked four high mileage distributors (Dodge, Chev/early, Chev/late and Jeep/motocraft), there was no measurable side play in the shafts (less than a couple thousandths). Measured the gap between a well used rotor and cap electrode (motocraft), there was about 0.020. The side play you estimated in yours is 1/16" or 0.062.
Might want to cut a window in your used distributor cap and see what kind of feeler gauge, you can stick between the electrode and the rotor end. Or you could measure the distributor shaft side play, with a dial gauge if you have one. Or a welding rod pointer and a feeler gauge.
I´d hate to spend the money for a new distributor, on a guess.

i just pulled the plugs. #5 and #6 had a slight oil residue on the threads in the combustion chamber. the ceramic did not have oil. how do the plugs look? there is a slight brown/red staining on the ceramic on most of them

LouisianaZJ said:

I was getting a slight ticking from the engine. i thought it was a sticky lifter so i had changed the oil and used seafoam to sort of clean things up a bit. it was still ticking so i inspected closer.
it is the distributor. i can feel the rotor knocking against the dist on the #6 point when running.
it does not tick all the time, just after i rev it up and let it idle.
i looked at the cap and it was slightly chipped on the outside and looks like it had gotten some moisture in there (white/brown residue). the rotor looked decent, but showed signs of wear

i ordered a new accel cap and rotor from summit racing and ill be putting in some new champion truck plugs too. i realize it might be the actual dist bearings that are worn. if so what would be a good dist. over OEM?

Click to expand...

The distributor doesn't have bearings but it does have gears on the shaft that mesh with the gears on the camshaft. If the gears are worn, there'll be too much play in the shaft when you rotate the rotor and this'll eventually play havoc with the injector firing synchronization, causing the engine to run poorly.
The cure is to replace the distributor gear. It's held onto the distributor by a pin. Place the distributor in a vice and use a hammer and punch to push out the pin. Once you've done that, the gear mechanism can be separated from the distributor body. You can also replace the cam position sensor at the same time.

the XJ still feels sluggish

do normal parts stores carry this gear?

btw, how hard is it to replace a distributor and get the timing position back? i totally hate engine/drivetrain work... im more of a suspension type of wrencher...

i have also read the oil pump and dist run off the same gear or something. my oil pressure sometimes drops to 25 psi at idle after traveling highway for a while. (could be oil pressure sender, have not replaced that yet)

Replacement of the distributor is not hard,1 bolt and 1 connector.Getting the motor to TDC on the compression stroke for #1 cylinder is most important as is marking the position of the rotor when you remove the dist.
Replace it in the same position and your all set.
A mopar replacement was $150 for my 96,came with new cap&rotor.
Your oil pressure is fine.
Do a search for more info as both have been covered in the past month.
Wayne