[porksoda]

Well me and Dragbaron were working on my Shadow today.
I was driving on the highway to school and then I totally lost power. Next thing you know I couldnt turn the car on. I was not getting any spark.
Dragbaron pulled me back home to see what the issue was. Finally we diagnosed it down to either the HEP or distributor. Well we pull off the HEP to see the distributor and we find out the little metal fins in it broke off there welds.

Well without finding any distributors locally at any parts stores or junk yards, dragbaron looked in his shed with car parts. Finally he came across a Distributor he pulled from a 87 Lebaron Turbo car. It looks exactly the same except it has a little window on one of the metal fins.
We put it on to see if it works and it did!
BUT the car had a high idle once the new distributor was one. The car now sits at 2000 rpms.

I am curious if you think that the turbo distributor with the window in the fin is causing the high idle?

We already checked for vacuum leaks and repaired all leaks.

Also we did that IAC idle reset where you disconnect the booster hose and then the IAC connector (while running) and put the booster hose back on (still while running). Then turn the vehicle off and then plug the IAC connector back in.
When it is turned back on it idles fine(900-1100RPM's) for about 5-10 seconds and then the idle jumps right back up to 2000RPM's.

Also we checked the ignition timing and we have it timed perfectly.

Any idea what I should look into next?

Maybe a new distributor specificlly for TBI car?
Or new IAC?

We are stumped.

Thanks for any help.

 

[NAJ]

I have never tried a turbo distributor in a TBI car so I cannot tell you what would happen, however....
The window in the shutter blade is for fuel sync so the controller can locate #1 cylinder to sync the injectors.
In your case the controller is seeing an interuption in the square wave signal as the window passes by and is obviously reading this as a different rpm signal and is stepping the AIS out assuming you are on the throttle and going to decel eventually.
The only way you can verify this is with a scanner to read AIS steps.
I would just get a TBI distributor and go from there.

 

[GentleCowboy]

you can also use a self adhesive aluminum duct tape and cover that window on the shutter blade

 

[porksoda]

I have never tried a turbo distributor in a TBI car so I cannot tell you what would happen, however....
The window in the shutter blade is for fuel sync so the controller can locate #1 cylinder to sync the injectors.
In your case the controller is seeing an interuption in the square wave signal as the window passes by and is obviously reading this as a different rpm signal and is stepping the AIS out assuming you are on the throttle and going to decel eventually.
The only way you can verify this is with a scanner to read AIS steps.
I would just get a TBI distributor and go from there.

Thanks for the help!
Ill probably just end up buying a new distributor.

you can also use a self adhesive aluminum duct tape and cover that window on the shutter blade

I tried and it did not make a difference.
I am gonna try to order a new distributor to see if that fixes the problem.

 

[porksoda]

Also me and dragbaron were thinking of just drilling where the original little welds go and putting some screws in there. Do you guys think that willl work?

 

[turismolover22]

You could do that, but then you run the risk of it not being balanced.

A lot of people have j-b welded them back together, You could also try taping over the hole and seeing if that makes a difference. Maybe aluminum ducting tape on both sides of the shutter blade would do the trick.

 

[porksoda]

Well just to update everyone.
I decided to order a new distributor for a TBI car.
It came in yesterday. Today Dragbaron ended up swapping them out and redoing the timing. Now the car runs like a champ.
So now we know that a Turbo Distributor will work in a TBI car BUT it will idle way high.
Now with the correct distributor my car idles around 900 RPM's instead of 2000-2100 RPM's (w/ turbo distributor).

 

[NAJ]

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