Distributor change?

Hi all,

I have a problem with the distributor on my mk2 Driver 1.6L

My engine stopped and would not start again after a 30 min drive (still turned over). After some playing around I found the rotor in the distributor was not spinning, and the inside of the cap didn't look too healthy to say the least. I removed the rotor and the little square pin the rotor sits on fell to pieces. Also there's about 10mm of play in the distributor shaft so I'm guessing the bearings have gone allowing the rotor to cause hell on the inside of the distributor cap.

My questions are:

1.) Where are the bearings that hold the distributor shaft?

2.) How hard is it to change the distributor and shaft bearings?

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

Hello Jeff, Ok this is a old time job. You may need a machinist and a lathe. Most but not all modern distributors utilise a single, or pair of sintered bronze, pressed and shrunk in bearings. They are located inside the bore of the distributor housing. These same bearings are used in starters, and a lot of flywheels. If you have a local bearing supply company that sells only industrial bearings they should have them, and they are cheap. This is a nuicance job to do. Perhaps a better way is to do like most mechanics and grab a complete unit from the wreckers. I think I have a couple kicking around my shop. Allan

Hi Allan, thanks for the reply.

It turns out I wouldn't be able to change the bearings after all because there was so much play in the shaft it had completely messed up the inside of the distributor, but I managed to get hold of a brand new complete unit for £40 from GSF. The normal price is around £125 but lucky for me GSF overstocked on these and they have 3000 units they can't sell. Swapped out for the new distributor and now she's running smoothly again. Very Happy

Thanks again, Jeff