how does a disty work

[ninjaben43]

my books are all borrowed out, and i have looked in the usrm, my tach is jumping, and sometimes when under load it missfires. the usrm led me to believe that this is a sign that ineed a new disty. now do i need to replace the whole thing, or is this a part in the disty that i can replace, or am i way off base? it is a 1986 gl wagon , the disty is the weired one with the spinning cross thing at the top under the rotor, if you know what i am talking about.

 

thanx:headbang:

[misledxcracker]

every time i've had a distributor problem, i always had the Crank Angle Sensor code flashing at me from the ECU. Do you have the ECS light on?

 

then again, if it's carbed... I am stupid, dont listen to me I only know FI.

[86BRATMAN]

Sounds like a worn bushing letting it skip around, I've had one do that on an ea81, and dad has had a few do the same on ea82 cars. We've just replaced them when they act like that

[ninjaben43]

well the problem is, that i dont have the scrilla to buy one, so thats why i was wondering if there was just some part i could replace, or rebuild the dam thing

[86BRATMAN]

I think that its replacable, I'm not sure. Seems like one mechanic dad had rebuilt them at one point in time. I'm not sure what is out there for them anymore.

[4x4_Welder]

Try dripping a couple drops oil oil down the distributor shaft. This worked for the one in my Hatch.