Travisfab

At random I am hearing a weird chirping/high pitch sound from the distributor and/or the 2 wires that go down to it. When this happens, my truck will not respond and eventually dies. First thing I did was clean up all the wiring with new connectors and heat shrink. Took a little drive and it happened again today. I am really not to sure what is going on here.

xxxtreme22r

kinda sounds like the section that triggers pickup coil is going bad but hard to tell. have you had the dist. cap off to check the rotor etc etc in it? also try taking the dist out and check for play in the shaft.

EDITED TO CLARIFY THE PICKUP COIL PLEASE READ AGAIN

Travisfab

The coil is an MSD and it has maybe 1500 miles on it. I'll have to double check the connections there. I have not pulled the cap yet, but I am going to pick up a cap and rotor today and try that. What else should I be looking at in there?

xxxtreme22r

no no not the ignition coil, the pickup coil inside the distributor. when you pull the rotor off you can see 4 fins that are a part of the shaft that rotate to trigger the pickup coil, kinds sounds like they might be rubbing. could also be the rotor tip came loose somewhat and hitting the cap contacts as well. which is more likely the cause.

myyota

If the bearings in the distributor are bad the shaft can move around inside, or the pick up coil could be out of adjustment, or even bad. Check it out and adjust or replace as needed.

Travisfab

Missed the "pickup"

That is certainly a possibility. I am going to throw a new rotor in and cross my fingers, if that doesnt work I have a spare distributor that I'll throw in.

Thanks

Travisfab

Hopefully found my issue. One I pulled out is on the left.

xxxtreme22r

that'll do it.

Travisfab

Good news, nothing like a 5 dollar fix! Thanks a lot. Wiring is so much fun!

xxxtreme22r

yeah but that wiring is worth dealing with.

Travisfab

The only stock wires in the entire truck are the 2 going to the distributor, and the harness going back to the tail lights.

Travisfab

Found the real issue, somehow the wire on this post was arching off the coil.

xxxtreme22r

glad ya got it fixed, how'd you end up finding it?

Travisfab

Had someone look under my hood when I tried to start it, and you could see the arching. The truck was running fine when it was cool, I think that by driving it for a little while it got hot enough and arched enough to make the truck miss, back fire, and sputter out. Of course it was a non Toyota part that failed, I should have started there.

xxxtreme22r

haha, yup I do seem to remember you ruled out the coil as the very first thing.

Travisfab

But of course!