Squeaky fuel distributor

[Kenny_Z]

My fuel distributor is squeaking at idle. At first I thought it was the idle speed motor but poking around with my stethoscope places the blame firmly on the distributor. I don't recall it squeaking like this prior to the engine rebuild. It's loud enough that I can hear it inside the cabin. I had someone that stopped to look at the car ask me if my alternator was going out. He could hear it from inside his truck while behind me at a stoplight. I had already taken the alternator belt off and confirmed that was not the noise.

My idle is normal. It tends to be higher during cold weather. I'm hoping I don't have to rebuild the fuel distributor since it is functioning so well.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Does it squeak only at idle? If so you may be hearing a vacuum leak.

[Kenny_Z]

Yeah, definitely only at idle and it's not a steady squeak. It's rhythmic and changes tone when the car is hunting idle. I'll definitely check vacuum lines though. I hope it is that simple.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Check the seal on the W pipe. That is common but you get more of a whistle.

[David T]

Check the seal on the W pipe. That is common but you get more of a whistle.

Make sure the air sensor plate is not rubbing on the sides of the venturi. It has to be centered. With the motor off push down on it and see if it squeaks or rubs.

[Kenny_Z]

I checked the air plate and it is squeak free. As soon as the weather clears up I'll go through the vacuum lines. They were all replaced when I did the engine rebuild but that's also when the squeaking started so I wouldn't be surprised if I got a bad line.

[dn010]

Is it running any differently, lean/rich? I had a fuel distributor make a really loud high pitched "scream" almost. The issue was that the o-rings inside it were shot, allowing fuel to travel places it shouldn't. This was accompanied by really poor idle, hard starting and running really rich. I rebuild the distributor myself and all was well. I also have an alternator that puts out a loud screach when first started - so the only way I ruled out the FD was if I pushed down the plate, engine off, with the fuel pump jumped to run constantly, it would make that loud ass noise.

[Kenny_Z]

During the winter the idle was always fast. Usually in the + 1000 rpm range once she warmed up. Since it's been hot I haven't driven her much but when I did the idle was perfect. She wasn't even hunting very long after starting. Today she wouldn't start. The last time I drove her it took an especially long time to start. I figuring it was just because she sat for over a week without being driven.

Does this sound like your fuel distributor noise? This was a video I took a few months ago when I was testing the injectors.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1adoUkH70c

[SS Spoiler]

I had an alternator make a loud squeal that was cured by going to a larger pulley size.

[dn010]

Sorry to respond so late, but I am not sure that the sound displayed in your video is an indication of anything gone bad with the FD. Mine would make that sound, only louder (hard to tell from the video how loud it is really) and at idle or sometimes rest. I did the same test and my spray was all over (drip/solid) from injector to injector- I had many other issues accompanying this like really rough running, too much fuel in the exhaust-enough where it was dripping out of the exhaust pipe, etc. If you're hearing this noise really loud just stopped at a light or idling in your driveway, and you know for sure it is coming from the FD - then that I don't think that would be normal; when my FD was new, I'd only hear this noise normally (and much quieter) when my car would stall from whatever work I was doing on it, and it wouldn't be longer than a few second.

By the way, the spray coming from your injectors doesn't look that bad - mine, because the o-ring were gone, would only drip on some injectors and spray hard on others - the ones that would drip-the fuel was losing pressure where the ring was gone.

[Kenny_Z]

Not a problem. I ran across another video here that had the same sound during their injector test so it's probably not a good indication of the issue. I haven't spent any real time investigating yet since I can't drive the car anyway. No AC.

[delorean928]

Hey Kenny did you find your noise? Mine was a leak in the RH intake manifold at the w pipe. I was sure it was a mechanical noise.

[Kenny_Z]

Caught some sort of bug so I spent my days off sleeping. I hope to eventually get back to the car to investigate.

[Kenny_Z]

I found that I was missing one of the plastic rings that goes with the o rings between the fuel distributor and w pipe. I doubled up the orings since I had a spare set. I have no idea where that thing went. It must have fallen off when I was putting the w pipe on and if so it's probably long gone. The paper gasket on my right side intake was bent strangely so it probably was allowing air passed. I had spares of those and used silicon sealant. The squeak is still there but not as loud. It has to be a vacuum leak. I can up the throttle and it goes away. It is only at idle and seems to start just below 1000rpm (per the car's gauge)

I replaced every hose on the car when I did the top end but there's no telling if I got a bad hose or even one that doesn't fit quite right. I'm going to just have to keep looking.