Remember that annoying problem involving the engine bogging at 1800-2000 RPM (Caused by the spark signal going away at that RPM range)?

The first go at it was to check if the crankshaft, cam and distributor were indexed right - and it turned out that the distributor was indexed wrong, thus causing the problem.

The problem was fixed, and two weeks later, the problem came back. Took it back to the shop again and they were totally perplexed to find out that the indexing was off on the distributor again. I told them check the intermediate shaft because somehow the pulley for the shaft must be somehow slipping, very gradually until the distributor is so far out that the problem returns.

Sure enough, there a little pin in there that keeps the pulley for the timing belt from rotating on the shaft, and, lo and behold, that little 25¢ pin was broken. And that was what was causing the distributor indexing to gradually change.

If course, it cost about $450 to replace a 25¢ part, thus proving the old adage that the least expensive part is always the most expensive to replace.

 

now you have way too much money in that beast to sell or junk it... you're stuck with it now.

oh and the shop you take it to are total rip-offs.. just so you know.

 

Hehe.

Well, they do charge too much. It was close to $1500 for a "tune up" in which they replaced the rotor, rotor cap, distributor, wires, plugs and had to replace the MAF meter (why the replaced the rotor, I have no idea), reindex the rotor (which should have clued them off to what the real problem was). Then another $450 to replace a pin to hold the pulley stable on the intermediate shaft (which is what I told them was probably the problem in the first place).

The only reason I took it to a shop is that I didn't have time to mess with it myself. I won't do that again.