Oil in the distributor

[odjeep]

This, to me, is quite strange. Im getting oil in the distributor to the point that it is running down the side of the engine and dripping onto the ground in decent amounts. I myself have never heard of this happening. Has anybody here ever heard of this happening? I was thinking that maybe a seal on the dist shaft went out for some reason and its allowing oil to go to the dist. . Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

od

 

[redrooster]

The PCV valve must be stopped up. I have never heard of this happening. The distributor shaft seal would let oil run down the side of the motor but not in the distributor. If you ave oil in the distributor then it should be misfiring as well.

 

[redrooster]

Mark the shaft and the block when you pull the distrutor out to change that seal. It will help you get it back close to being in time when you put it back together. If it continues to leak then check the PCV.

 

[pushead]

Bucking, jerking, surging, hunting mostly in first gear.

I discovered the same thing last week. My vacum advance was not returning keeping me at a hi idle. I took the cap off and cleaned the distributor off and now my advance is working properly again. I have not driven it enough to see if this is going to happen again though. My jeep is just a weekend vehicle.

 

[odjeep]

Topics in this forum

There is oil getting into the distributor base, but it isnt missing because it doesnt even come close to the rotor and/or contacts. It just started today since I sealed up the vent hole in the bottom of the dist. body when I was waterproofing it. Im guessing that the oil was leaking out through the shaft the whole time but was just leaking out of the vent hole at the base of the dist body. Not sure if ive ever seen a dist seal sold separately though. I Suppose the pcv valve sounds like a probable cause, prolly check that out next. Thanks Guys.

od

 

[redrooster]

Maybe sealing the distributor up has caused a vacuum situtation and is drawing oil up into the base. The spinning rotor displaces air. It has to go somewhere or compress and form a vacuum. Just a thought. You can seal the shaft with RTV if need be.

 

[avyoung]

Dream Machine

I think you need a vent on the dist. I have heard of people running a hose to highter ground and putting a finlter on it.

 

[redrooster]

Obvilously the sealing of the distributor didn't work anyway because the oil is leaking out. If oil can leak out, water can get in. I would just put it back to normal or run an extended vent like young said.

 

[LBR]

redrooster has a good point - a totally sealed up dist assembly can cause a condition called "spark scatter" - at higher rpm your rig can mis-fire if the dist can't vent to atmosphere - however the thought of a vacumn created should be looked at as a pressure created - the act of rotor/dist terminal interfacing at high rpm builds up heat inside that small area under the cap 'cause of the spark snap between metals - heat expands - end of story - in the drag racing scene, we have drilled a very small hole in a non-critical area of the dist cap to vent it at mega-rpm - it needs to breath, odjeep LBR

 

[TwistedCU]

Re: XJ getting hot.........

I had a little bit of oil in my distributer in my YJ. I never sealed the distributer. I had no significant oil leaks and wasn't burning any oil either, so I never worried about it because it never caused any trouble. I just wiped it out every time I was in there working (oil change or whatever).