Howling (video)

[Jonner]

I'm curious to see if the OP figure out the problem.

I've had a fairly high-pitched wauhwauhwauhwauhwauhwauh (lower-pitched than a squeal) noise that started 6 months ago. It would only show when cold, and typically only lasted a minute. The pitch only changed slightly when revving the engine but not much, and was definately coming from the passenger side of the engine bay.

Yesterday night, the noise lasted 5 minutes in 10 degree weather with the engine cold, so the problem is getting worse. I didn't have a stethoscope of any kind, but when I put my hand on the distributor I felt vibration and the noise seemed to be coming from the distributor (although the vibration could have been normal for a cold engine).

My hunch is that a bearing NEAR or IN the distributor is going out, but haven't looked into enough to know where the oil pump, etc. is?

 

[Jonner]

Subscribed

 

[BotakBeng]

wauhwauhwauhwauhwauhwauh

Wouldn't it be easier if you put up a sound clip or video?

 

[ParadiseXJ]

This isn't like me, I usually beat out a thread until it's done...and then some. It was the distributor. I had to replace the whole unit as there is no rebuild kit, per se.

I replaced the dist. and the howl went away. I really finally figured it out with the piece of hose. I was fixed on the sound coming from the front...pulleys, belt, harmonic balancer.

I also ended up replacing the hamonic balancer afterwards because when I took a really good look at it it was separating. I think I addressed the whole thing, solution to THIS problem, in another thread. Oops!!!

Anyhow, replacing the dist. was so easy and I had dreaded getting in to the guts of it all. The harmonic balancer was a piece of cake too. I guess I might be getting better at this.

:banghead: + + :compwork: =

 

[Miller88]

Isn't that a problem on the newer 4.0s? some sort of gear that's driven off of the cam (where the older distributor would go) doesn't get oiled, starts wining and eventually snaps and causes the engine to run with no oiling?

 

[ParadiseXJ]

Isn't that a problem on the newer 4.0s? some sort of gear that's driven off of the cam (where the older distributor would go) doesn't get oiled, starts wining and eventually snaps and causes the engine to run with no oiling?

OUCH!!

 

[kastein]

That's a problem with the later 4.0s in TJs/LJs. IIRC, 04 and 05, but I could be wrong on those years. Basically the gear shaft that drives the distributorless ignition system cam sensor and the oil pump off of the cam breaks apart and stops driving the oil pump. AFAIK, does not affect any year of XJ (unless someone swapped in a later year TJ motor, which isn't easy IIRC since they have different accessory mounting points.)

 

[Jonner]

I purchased an A1CARDONE distributor, will be getting a cap and rotor also for replacement. I'm looking to replace in the next week when I get free time. If that fixes the noise I'll post my findings.

Also, I'll be working on the water pump and belts soon, so I'll take a look at the harmonic balancer while I'm in there. In the time I've owned the XJ, I haven't worked much in this area of the engine so it'll be a learning experience.