318 LA Engine Hot=Noise Dist.

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LowDart

BR-Dodge
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Hey ,I've got an 318 LA engine and the thing that worry's me a bit is a noise that" i think " comes from the distributor when the engine get's hot!It's with the hot engine!!Yesterday the car started a bit heavy after 2 hours driving(The noise come's after 15 mins).The Dist. it's the same since i bought the car.And it doesnt look good.I'm runing with Eletronic ignition(silver box),MSD Blaster coil,and Original Dist.So i was wondering if Someone can Help Me!!!Is it realy the Distribuitor? :banghead:
 
A bad Distribuitor makes noise????????C'mon People!!!!!Someone have any experience with dist.problem??Sorry 4 posting 3 times.
 
LowDart said:
Hey ,I've got an 318 LA engine and the thing that worry's me a bit is a noise that" i think " comes from the distributor when the engine get's hot!It's with the hot engine!!Yesterday the car started a bit heavy after 2 hours driving(The noise come's after 15 mins).The Dist. it's the same since i bought the car.And it doesnt look good.I'm runing with Eletronic ignition(silver box),MSD Blaster coil,and Original Dist.So i was wondering if Someone can Help Me!!!Is it realy the Distribuitor? :banghead:
Click to expand...

Remove the dist cap when its hot. Grab the rotor and see if there is side play. If there is, worn dist shaft and or bushing. Look for arching under the cap . Run the car at night look for arching on the wires especially around the plugs. Arching can even sound like lifter noise exhuase leak when indeed its not. Also after all is said and done, check timing with a light, if the timing is bouncing around at idle , then the bronze bushing in the block is worn. :shaking2:
 
Usually if the dist bottom bushing dries out enough to make noise, the dist will lock-up and begin to turn in the block. About the time the vac advance can smacks the firewall the timing will be so slow the car will die. There is no direct lubrication to the shaft, just windage from the lifter valley. In a high mile engine which has had few oil changes (or has been run with substandard oil) sludge may build up and prevent the shaft from getting any oil.

Why doesn't your distributor look good? They were't exactly the most attractive part on the car to begin with.
 
What do you mean when you say arching DTK??sorry ,arching it's a term that i dont know(Bad english!) :wack: .You think change dist, it's the solution??Plugs &wires are pretty old and it's giving me problems like :headlights stop working,etc..I'm going to re-wire everything soon!!The block was rebuilded with new pistons,rings,...and has only 1.00Km's since that.Timing it's at the point.I'm going to buy a mopar ignition kit soon!i did not bought before because $$$$$ wasn't enought.
 
What DTK is telling you to do is, start the car at night with out any lights around. If wires, distributor cap, etc. are bad sometimes you can see flashes of spark coming from wires, cap, to the nearest ground, which is usually the engine block. This happens alot around the plug connections and where sparkplug wires are close to metal. If you see sparks then you should install new wires and cap, whichever is sparking. Better to change both.
After checking this, shut engine off, remove distributor cap and see if the rotor can move side to side. If it has movement then your shaft or bushing is worn and needs replacement. While distributor cap is off, look inside of it for arching(sparking). Signs of arching inside of the distributor cap are cloudy, smoky and burnt looking areas inside the cap near the plug terminals on inside of cap. Also carefully check cap for any cracks that it may have. If there are cracks it should be replaced. Mike
 
Thank's Mike >Helped a lot.!!Going to check if there's any ARCHING(hehehe) tonight.Thanks everybody!tomorrow i'll post information about what i've found.
 
Well...The Only sparks i could see was coming from the coil wires,both sparking near the coil(top of coil).Dist cap realy doesnt look good,But i haven't seen any crack on the Cap yesterday.,going to ceck again today.My intention now is to change the Dist.,Box and wires and not only the cap!
 
So why replace the dist and box? Sounds like you need a cap and wire set.

Avoid shotgun maintenance, and make one change at a time. If you still have noise, then I'd look at the distributor. If you want to make an ignition upgrade, thats fine, but isolate the problem first. Otherwise you might just upgrade a problem.
 
Why you think i can upgrade the problem?Yes ,i want to make a Ignition upgrade because this box has a low RPM limit.MAX -4.500 or 5.000rpm's i think.
 
LowDart said:
Why you think i can upgrade the problem?Yes ,i want to make a Ignition upgrade because this box has a low RPM limit.MAX -4.500 or 5.000rpm's i think.
Click to expand...

A stock 318 has a low RPM limit too (you didn't mention intake, camshaft or exhaust mods). The stock Mopar ignition control unit isnt all that bad, and if you are running the Mopar Performance silver ECU and blaster coil, you have plenty of RPM potential.

I made the "fix it first" comment in response to your diagnosis of the car. You stated that you have arcing (not arching, an ARCH is an inverted parabola, while an ARC is an electrical discharge between conductors through space). This means that your coil is already producing more power than your cap/rotor/wires can transmit to the spark plugs. You identified a defective component and then spoke of replacing something else. This would be like putting a new roof on a house with rotten walls. Also, your first question was about noise possibly from the distributor. Again, why replace a perfectly good ignition ECU if the distributor needs a couple drops of oil? OR, if the distributor isn't the cause of the noise, finding and fixing the source of the noise should be a priority. If your rear cam bearing has seized, or you distributor drive grear is shredding itself, you need to fix that first.

Here's what I would do:
1) New distributor cap, rotor and plug wires. Plugs too if they are not new.
2) Remove distributor and make sure the shaft spins freely. Turn the dist upside down and place a few drops of oil on the shaft so the oil goes into the bushing. A shot of WD-40 under the advance plate on the weights wouldn't be a bad idea either.
3) Put it back together and see if the noise is still there. If so, you can be pretty sure it isn't the distributor.
 
Ok Chief.So,put new cap and rotor(easy)+plug's & wires(need someone to do it) and a bit of oil should be enought.If not ?
Ohhh!!!Sorry about the Arcing! wrong writting.
 
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