I have a slight noise coming from the front of the engine, sounds a bit like a dry bearing, initially thought it was an idler pully bearing, but I removed all the drive belts and the noise is still there, it sounds like it is coming from the distributor, but I can't be absolutly certain. The timing belt idler was replaced along with the belt about 30,000km ago, i used a genuine nissan idler, so it shouldn't have gone bad yet.

I removed the distributor and it seems to turn freely without any noticable rumble.

Is this something that anyone else has had with a VG distributor? are there replaceable bearings?

Thanks.

 

Could be the alternator pulley.

 

Then the noise should have gone away when I removed all the drive belts?

 

distributor chatter...it happens when the timing belt gets a little loose. check the t-belt tension and tighten if needed.

 

Does it sound like this?

http://video.tinypic.com/player.php?v=2ihwmsk

 

Nice video.. great way of describing a problem.
It sound similar but not the same and it isn’t that loud, the sound on this video is more metalic, where as mine sounds more like a noisy bearing inside a housing (more of a dull rattle sound). Although I have had a sound similar to the video before when the main pulley bolt came loose and the pulley rattled around on the woodruff key.

The sound that I am having is coming from the top of the engine. The loose timing belt sounds like a possibility; I will check that in the next few days.

Thanks.

 

Did you take off the cap? How does the distributor turn freely? only the cap assembly should turn, the distributor should only turn it's self.

This could just be the cap, in my 200SX the cap tends to make noise, because the thread on one side that holds it down is stripped, so i used a ziptie to hold it on. Could just be a noisy distributor cap or rotor. I've never seen this on a VG, only my 200SX, which has a weird distributor for 8 plugs.

 

that was my max before I had timming belt and tensioner done

 

I removed the whole distributor to check if the bearings had failed, it could still be the bearings, but they seem to turn freely by hand when out of the vehicle.

I have recently replaced the distributor cap, and pressing down on the cap when the engine is running doesn't change the noise.

The only thing I haven't really checked recenlty is the timing belt and tensioner (even though they were both replaced about 30,000km ago. I think I will go down that path next and check the belt tension, and tensioner bearing.

Thanks.