Paul Elwyn

With the P-Car.com DIY instructions by Brian Smith in hand, I am in the process of replacing the distributor belt in my '96 4S, but now that the unit's on the bench I have a couple of questions.

1. I'm ready to pull the main dist. shaft, which Brian says will pull out with the drive gear removed, 3 phillips screws on top removed and elect. connector unclipped, but the belt fits tightly on the drive cog on both shafts preventing the main shaft from pulling out. I can see the belt in a bind against the shoulder of the drive cog as I try to push the main shaft out. Should I simply apply more force?

2. Brian says to dremel the tabs holding the brass plug in the bottom of the secondary distributor and pry the plug out to access the secondary shaft. What's the best way to replace the plug going back together, and what do I do if I damage the plug while prying it out?

guards red

Hi,

I found the instructions on P-car very helpful but a bit over the top in what you need to dismantle. If you have reason to believe the bearing in the second housing is suspect then by all means take out the zinc coated plate, but I found that if you remove a couple of dowls in the housings which was easy peasy then you can change the belt without disturbing the second housing at all. No plate removal no major disassembly. The hardest part for me was the removal of the gear on the primary shaft (other than taking the damn thing itself out of the engine!) which you've already done.

The bearing in the second housing takes no real transverse load and was fine in my distributor.

As for the primary shaft, make sure the wires to the hall effect sensor etc are clear and it should just pull out. You should be able to see through the hole left by the hall effect connector.

Scary to do but not as hard as it looks initially.

Best of luck.

User 122821

Is it possible to remove the distributor with the engine in place?

NC TRACKRAT

Sure...It looks crowded but getting a few things out of the way makes it EZ. Just be sure to get the engine at TDC on #1 and remember the orientation of the rotors as they point to the rims of their respective housings.

chris walrod

the gold colored drive gear will slide-off the main shaft as you remove it from the housing.

Paul Elwyn

Thanks to everyone for their responses, but before seeing any responses I removed the plug from the bottom of the secondary distributor, pulled the c-clip and spacers, pulled the 5 bolts holding the two halves of the distributor, and withdrew the entire top assembly with both primary and secondary shafts together and the belt exposed, which should be a relatively easy reassembly tomorrow if parts arrive on schedule. Now I'm cleaning and lubing. Next time should be even easier. (Man, that's a tiny belt!)

Paul Elwyn

Thanks, I'll go this way next time.

BobbyT

For anyone contemplating this, sometimes the distributor is reluctant to come out of the engine case. Some owners went so far as to drill a hole in the engine tin, and drive the dix out from underneath. I found that a roll-foot, also called a doll-foot pry bar placed under the dix provides just the right leverage to bring it out with no drama.

NP993

I've got a distributor belt (thanks Walrod!) and am going to do this myself at some point...is there anything else that needs attention on one of these distributors at, say, 100K, other than basic cleaning/inspection/lube?

AOW162435

Noah,
The distributor has bearings that can, and do, go bad.

For those of us with less than average mechanical skillz, the distributor can be sent off to a gentleman in GA who will rebuild the entire unit for around $150.




Andreas

NP993

Thanks Andreas. I talked to the guy in GA and he said that all he does is replace the belt, clean/lube the unit, and inspect the bearings, and replace if necessary -- which he said is very, very rarely necessary. So I think I'm going to give this a try myself. No sense in departing with $150 for a simple job.

AOW162435

Noah,
I would expect you to tackle this yourself! If you can, please post some pics of your findings, as I would like to refresh mine as well.


Andreas

NP993

Will do! I might even get into this weekend, just for kicks. Need to make sure I have the right toolz first...

AOW162435

Andreas

Mike J

You do not have to put the engine at TDC, all you have to do is put the dist back into the engine with the rotors in the same position. I have done a few of these, and all I do is remove the caps, mark the position of both the rotors, and remove the distributor. When I replace the distributor, I just make sure the rotors point to my marks and that's it.

The trick is to use a marker that will not rub off when handling the distributor, and not to crank or turn-over the engine while the distributor is off.

And I agree, you can shortcut the instructions quite a bit by just splitting the case, and threading the belt into the case. I am doing another one this weekend, and am documenting that procedure for www.pcarworkshop.com.

Cheers,

Mike