distribitor springs

[jdogg#1]

the two springs in the bottom of my distribitor broke so i went to the auto store and picked up two more but they were a little bigger. it runs great now but i notice a ticking sound now that wasent there before i installed them and it not a real quiet sound just loud enough to hear over the motor running. could the springs be to loose causing them to slap around in there. oh yeah its a 3.0 mercruiser 87 sea ray

 

[Daviet]

Re: distribitor springs

By bigger do you mean larger in diamater? If so, could the dist shaft spinning be hitting the spring? Can you hear the noise coming out of the cap or does it sound like it is coming from somewhere else?

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: distribitor springs

the two springs in the bottom of my distribitor broke so i went to the auto store and picked up two more but they were a little bigger. it runs great now but i notice a ticking sound now that wasent there before i installed them and it not a real quiet sound just loud enough to hear over the motor running. could the springs be to loose causing them to slap around in there. oh yeah its a 3.0 mercruiser 87 sea ray

Best to make sure that you aren't hearing detonation, from the advance curve being slightly off.

I am pretty sure that on a previous thread here about replacing advance springs, the 'old salts' pointed out that the new springs had to be the exact match for the original...or the advance curve would be out of spec.

If you have access to an advance timing light, you can check your distributor's advance curve. That would be my next move...or get the correct springs from a local marine dealer!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: distribitor springs

You need to check your advance at various RPMs and compare to the spec n the manual. You may be way off now and getting too much or too little advance. Either way is bad. Too little and your performance will suffer. Too much and you will detonate and ruin your motor.