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Distributor body is aluminum so can't rust. That is rust from other stuff. I would remove and send to get disassembled, inspected, and freshened up as necessary, including belt replacement.
Your are not supposed to go swimming in your car!
The distributor should have been at least lubricated with a little oil on the sponge in the center shaft. It looks dry. Clearly no one has been servicing this distributor for quite a while. Could the water egress be due to the vent hose on the side of the directly driven distributor falling out and then rain or road splash getting inside the opening?
I have had the experience of it coming loose as the plastic vent hose fitting that holds it in is not very robust.
I got 100,000 miles out of my dual distributor and the belt, having it pulled for service even though it was still working properly.
I attribute this long service life to oiling the internals under the dust caps/insulators at the base of the rotor shafts every two or three years when I replace the caps and rotors.
When I finally had the thing rebuilt the only bearing that needed to be replaced was the bushing under the little gear drive. My opinion is that eventually the two large bearings, one under each rotor can run dry and fail over a very long time so keeping things wet with a little oil may have contributed to their extended life on my car.
Distributor body is aluminum so can't rust. That is rust from other stuff. I would remove and send to get disassembled, inspected, and freshened up as necessary, including belt replacement.
You're right, Churchill ! I must have bumped my head...; )
11-26-2017, 08:42 PM
Gnarly Distributor Innards
