seized distributor

[classic225]

Went for an evening ride that ended on the side of the road. Lost all power and engine died. Found that the vacuum line to the manifold was sheared of at the distributor, Distributor was loose, pushed it back in place and tried to start the engine just to see the distributor turn around. Had my 16 year old daughter pull me home with her little suv......needed a couple of drinks afterwards...

The distributor is totally seized up, no idea how this is possible, and it is the original one, not a cheap aftermarket product. Luckily when I had the engine turning over I did see the distributor drive turning, so hopefully no damage inside the engine.

Anyone had this happen before? I'll try to dismantle it later this weekend and try to find the reason for seizing up.

Yves

[Ralph Whitaker]

The bush in the distributor should be lubricated by oil mist and spray thrown up from the cam , but really needs decent runs to achieve this and few classics get these long runs, being used for short jaunts on sunny days, and on a TR the distributor is very high up above the extension for the tacho` drive gear. Might be a lesson for us all here to pull the distributor and get some oil on the bottom bush at the start of each season. Could probably be achieved by trickling a little oil down inside the distributor occasionally, letting it run down the inside of the casing to the bush at the bottom.

Ralph

[John McCormack]

I regularly put a few drops, quite a few, under the rotor button. This will seep down and lubricate the bush, I hope. My cars do get regular long runs so it is a moot point for me.

[stuart]

That is why there is a little felt pad under the rotor arm that if you read the service instructions it does tell you to add a couple of drops of oil to it every 6000mls and on the breaker arm pivot and down the side of the base plate for the advance retard weights though obviously with cars unlikely to do that sort of mileage these days then once a year is probably a better guide.

Stuart.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by stuart

[Motorsport Mickey]

Yeah... when these cars were in more daily use I checked oil level in the sump, and with the dipstick out also take off the rotor arm and just dab a couple of drips off the bottom of the dip stick onto the rotor and spindle.
Did it when I remembered, probably couple or 3 times a year.

Mick Richards

[iain]

+1

 

 

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

No never seen it happen.

Have received distributors for exchange that the spindle was seized in the body - like yours sounds to have.

Early model Lucas distributor did have a lubrication point on the side of the casing for the bush that has seized in your unit. As stated above drip oil in the distributor at the top under the rotor arm to keep the mechanical advance working and into the base of the distributor to oil the bush.

The distributor body is common to other British cars of the era like Austin MG etc so an old one from one of those would provide you with a donor casing  All you would need to do is swap over the mechanical advance mechanism.  The vacuum advance unit will be a different spec, but would probably 'do the job'.

Or you could just fit the donor unit......

To get the shaft out of your distributor you must punch the cross pin out of the drive dog.  This task can be easy or a horror show.  Take notes of the dog's orientation to the rotor arm as the drive tang is offset.

Peter W

[Lebro]

1 hour ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:

To get the shaft out of your distributor you must punch the cross pin out of the drive dog.  This task can be easy or a horror show.  Take notes of the dog's orientation to the rotor arm as the drive tang is offset.

Peter W

You don't say which TR this happened to, but re above the 25D4 distributors had an offset locating cross pin, so you can't get it wrong, but on the DM2 distributors (earlier TR's) the pin was central, so easy to get it the wrong way round.

Bob.

[classic225]

Hi All,

Thanks for the advice and info. And yes, it was probably operator error as I don't remember ever lubricating the distributor. Could it be that I had the plate/clamp that hold the distributor in position, upside down. I noticed that both sides are different, one side sits like a little bit higher, no idea what is up or sits on the pedestal.

Bob, the car is a 3A. Tried to get the pin out but no success so far.

Yves