Can I "degrease" the distributor?

[Julian B]

Hi all, I have begun the task of stripping down my engine as it has been making a very bad noise, and I now find that there are bits of metal in the oil filter. So far all I have done is remove the engine from the Haf, and strip off most of the main components. I have not yet split the crankcase, but will do so soon.

A quick question; I have removed the cap & rotor arm from the distributor and the inside is full of muck / crud / dirt etc. Is it OK to drench the distributor in degreasing fluid in order to clean the insides, or are there any components that would be damaged? I would dry it off with a paper towel immediately afterwards, but this would make cleaning it much much quicker!

I'm aware that this is an embarrassingly simple question, but I have never done as much as this before ...

Many thanks!

Julian

[pathfinder700ap]

Hi,

First of all, I also don't know much about the distributor. I also found dirt and old oil in mine and cleaned it with a degreaser...

zuendverteiler.jpg (52.31 KiB) Viewed 2090 times

I did not disassemble the shaft and the centrifugal weights. The owner's manual says that if one is servicing the circuit breaker, the cams should also be greased a little bit and the wick under the rotor should also be oiled.


Kind regards,
Constantin

[heinkeljb]

Julian,

You can dump the distributor into a bucket of degreaser for all the damage it will do. Just make sure that it is cleaned of the degreaser afterwards. Do you have an air compressor - you could blow it dry after its bath!

Just remember that the degreaser will remove all the oil / grease from all the joints in it, so the shaft will be running "dry", the pivot point for the centrifugal weights will be running "dry" - so will need a little squirt of oil before use.

John

[Julian B]

Many thanks both - I will continue with the component cleaning in the morning. Great tip about using the compressor to blow out / dry the degreaser too

Julian

[Julian B]

I have now drenched & cleaned the distributor; I didn't remove the springs & balance mechanism, but everything else came out. A quick follow up question ...

Between the inside wall of the distributor and the outer edge of the curved sprung metal "blade" is a piece of waxed paper(?) with a hole at one end where it is secured by a bolt that also acts as an electrical terminal on the outside. The paper measures very approx 6x30mm.

What does this do? Does it just act as a mechanical "buffer", or an electrical insulator? On mine the paper has separated into two bits - one short where the hole is and another longer bit that goes by the spring. Is this a problem? Do I need to get another one, and if so what is it called?

At present I have just sandwiched the paper between the spring and the distributor casing but I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do ...

Many thanks!

[heinkeljb]

The exploded parts diagram for the distributor is about as good as your broken piece of paper!

I would hazard a guess that it is both an electrical insulator and a mechanical buffer in case the weights move out far enough to touch the casing. I doubt there will be a replacement part as it is not shown in the parts book, so i would try and source some thing similar or just do what you have done already.

If when you came to start and run the engine after your re-build, it misbehaves by have an erratic tick over of misfires when rev'ed, then I would be looking a bit harder at the distributor and this piece of waxed paper. Until then I would assume your "repair" works.

John