Dlslaugh

There is. Hook up a fuel pressure gauge to the fuel line and variable vacuum source to the vacuum line on the pressure regulator. Plug the manifold vacuum. Start the engine and watch the pressure. Fuel pressure should decrease as vacuum increases.

When mine started to fail, it sounded like a rattle. I thought it was in the catalytic converter. It progressively got worse and then I got multiple #6 misfire codes. I found it was the fuel pressure regulator by accident. While pulling the spark plug, I accidentally pulled the fpr vacuum line off the plenum. Once I got the spark plug back in it seemed to run better, but was puking fuel out of the vacuum line. The regulator failed and was dumping gas into #6 cylinder.

My hood wouldn't pop either. When you get it open, spray the latch mechanism with some WD-40 or another spray lubricant. It is probably gummed up.

Mine is doing the same thing. I think it is the passenger side cam seal. It's hard to see from the top, but that would be my guess. I'll know more when I decide to change the timing belt.

[quote name="hawairish" post="795757" timestamp="1515868095" Good idea, but it might take some effort for me to branch out. There's a large community college presence in the valley here, and one school in particular focuses on technical education. But, they might be too structured for ad hoc work. In the short term, I'll probably stick with my local steel supply since I'll need other stuff from them anyway. I would love to take a welding class, but the same technical college wants almost $12K for the main course and a plate welding course. Probably justified if I was making a career from it, but for that money I could buy a good welder and plasma table, and then wing it. I did my first welding project the other month, a cargo rack for the truck, but am still green to the process. I'll get there eventually. For that kind of money I would do the same. I thought you could just take a welding class for one term and "pay per credit" which would be a reasonable cost

One option for getting the parts cut cheap or possibly free would be to go to your local community college or possibly high school with a welding shop that has a CNC plasma table. When I was in the welding program in college, we used our plasma table a lot. Most teachers won't mind cutting stuff out so the students can learn and get more experience with a machine. Or, you could enroll in a welding class and cut them yourself if you have the time to go to school. Good luck

Glad to hear you got it fixed. Hopefully the new bearing will last as long as the original.

Was it the bearing?

No problem. Hopefully it will fix your issue. Just be careful when disassembling your distributor to not damage the gasket that seals the cap to the body. It will probably be brittle and you can't buy a new one. Mine broke in a few places, and I put rtv sealant to fix it.

Here is a picture of the bearing when I took it off the distributor.

I didn't have mine checked. It was still working, but not sure how much longer. The bearing was in bad shape. If you have the means to press the old bearing off and then a new one on, I think the parts less than $15.

I took what was left of the bearing to a bearing shop and they measured it and got me a new one. I think you might be able to get one at an auto parts store.

It was causing a random misfire. It would change cylinders randomly and it wouldn't throw a code, which made it a PITA to figure out the cause.

I had the same problem with my 99.5. The problem ended up being the bearing on the distributor was falling apart. It was making a growling sound. I took the distributor out and pressed on a new bearing. Problem solved.