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Oil in distributor

635 views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  calpbs 
#1 ·
Hey All,
Jeep started running crappy the other day so I decided to give all the usual tune up things the once over. While checking spark plugs I noticed the distributor cap was tilted due to one of the screws being stripped. I removed the distributor so I could tap the screw hole a size up and noticed there was oil residue inside the housing. I also noticed there was a little up and down play in the shaft but not sure if that is normal. Finally there is some wear on the gear. I have pictures of the residue and then gear wear below. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks :cheers2:
 

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#3 ·
If the shaft was worn and loose then you would have something to worry about. The CCV will fill with oil if you had a real issue with blow by. I would call that a no issue in my book.
 
#4 ·
It doesn't look overly serious but if you can spare the $$ replacing the distributor would give better performance overall.
The wear in not too bad but combined with the normal play your timing is going to randomly jump around probably 2 or 3 degrees.
The oil isn't overly bad either but any mist that floats around the cap will eventually deteriorate the spark transmission. Make sure your PCV valve is working right because you shouldn't have more than a fractional psi at the dist. Barring major ring blow by you could be letting pressure build and that would push the oil up the dist shaft.
 
#6 ·
Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. I wasn't really looking forward to shelling out the cash for a new distributor and it sounds like it should be fine for now. When I'm not bleeding cash into this rig (assuming that's something that might happen) I'll probably take the opportunity to change it just because it can't hurt after 210k miles. I think the oil has to do with CCV pressure as it seems to want to come out of any place it possibly can even after changing seals. The hoses are all clear so I guess next is to check the valve cover itself?
 
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