Help

[LX-i BOY]

today i was listening to my egine with it running well i hear this faint scracting sound and i hear like its coming from the distributor cap area, the only thing is an oncoming of my distributor dying or what, any ideas, also i am going to take off the distributor cap this weekend and see if i see anything?? Also what would cause my tach to move like an 1/8 inch up and down at idle?? any help is appreciated:help:, i have an 88 lx-i 4-door

[danronian]

First check your ECU for codes about the idle. The scratching could be from carbon deposits but I doubt. Just scrape all of the white stuff off of the metal parts inside the cap.

[LX-i BOY]

i forgot to add that i just replaced the distributor cap, rotor, plugs, and wires 5 months ago so i don't know if there will be any white stuff this soon but i will check.

[danronian]

Scratch that idea then. Well when I bought my car the previous owner said that the distributer bearing seized and snapped the distributer in half and snapped the timing belt. My car does have a new distributer so I do believe that this happened. Maybe this is the culprit and if so I would get it fixed as soon as possible. To tell while the engine is running, just get a wooden dowel, or small board and stick it against the distributer, if the scratching is amplified through the wood to your ear it is probably this bearing that is shot. Good luck!