Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:35:02 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Distributor woes
In-Reply-To: <8CA6D7729CF833B-16C4-1CFC@webmail-me03.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Glad your running again.
I wonder what's wrong with your computer that it puts a question mark at the
end of most of your sentences.
Makes it look like you doubt or question everything you say.
( ??? )
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Tom Stone
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 6:20 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Fwd: [VANAGON] Distributor woes
I popped off the cap
and checked the rotor. It and the shaft spun freely.? No
t good.? I tried reseating the shaft and replacing the cap but the van would
no
longer start.? Pulling a wire and trying to start the van showed?that there
was
now no spark.?The tines at the end of the distributor were chewed up so I
suspect that the distributor has been internally loose for a while.? Not
sure
what is going on inside it but it appears that the shaft is too short.
Thanks to Dennis and others for their advice on this.? I found a shop in
Sarasota with Vanagon experience.??The owner?was able to see what my frantic
eyes were not?seeing.? The yoke which holds the distributor in place had
been over tightened in the past warping the ring and twisting the eyelets
which hold the bolt downward against the case lifting the distributor
slightly out of the case.? Wear on the tines at the end of the distributor
and the heat of the 1200 mile drive combined to cause something which had
worked for tens of thousands of miles to suddenly fail.? A new yoke, chrome
even, and a new bolt did the trick.? The spacing?between the pinion gear and
the distributor tines were checked and found to be within spec.? I put about
20 miles on the van today and all seems well.? Thinking back, there was one
hint of future trouble on the drive to Florida.? We had an occasional
ignition miss, kind of like Vanagon syndrome.? Now there is nothing
abnormal.? Looking forward to the wedding this weekend and an uneventful
drive home.? By the way, the van has 176k miles?on it.? It looks good and
runs good, now.?
Ed Leiper at Cape Automotive in Sarasota was the mechanical expert.? I found
him?on Larry's list?and will add my positive recommendation.??
Tom
'91 Carat
?
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