Date:         Tue, 26 Nov 1996 07:23:35 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Beth Young <young@sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu>
Subject:      Re: Distributor Cleaning, Advice needed

Jeff:

I just dissassembled/re-assembled the distributor in my '81 so....

If you just want to clean/lube without getting into the distributor
too far, I'd suggest getting some "dunk it"-type parts cleaner, (you
know - that nasty stuff that kills brain cells), removing the O-ring
that goes on the distributor shaft, and then rigging up a way to dunk
the _lower_ part of the distributor in the cleaner.  I'd be sure not
to get the parts cleaner on the Hall effect terminal or the vacuum
advance.  I'm pretty sure this would get the mechanical advance
mechanism cleaned up.  After that, dunk it again (lower part only)
in a small can of oil.  There are holes in the botton of the distributor
body that will allow oil to flow in and lube the mechanism.  

It isn't _too_ difficult disassembling the distirbutor.  You need some
snap-ring pliers to get the clips off, then *carfully* use 2 screwdrivers
through the "windows" of the rotor to remove the rotor itself.  Watch out
for the _tiny_ pin that sits between the rotor and the distributor shaft
to keep the rotor for spinning on the shaft.

The harder part is finding Bosch distributor parts.  A local FLAPS
ordered a "kit" for me which is full of washers, small clips, etc.
but the kit wasn't "complete" for my distributor, i.e., it didn't
have every single small piece my distributor contained.  (Luckily,
it had the part I needed.)

One thing this kit doesn't have is the C-clips that hold the rotor
in place on the shaft, so be carefull removing them.  The top C-clip
in my distributor was so rusted, it broke when I tried to remove it.
Had a hell of a time finding a metric C-clip that would replace it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Young                young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549     '81 Vanagon
---------------------------------------------------------------------

On Tue, 26 Nov 1996, Jeff Carver wrote:

> My '80 Westi has a flat spot in the acceleration at about 30 mph in 
> second gear (CA engine with Hall effect distributor).  I don't have a 
> tach to check what the RPM is.  I'm thinking that the distributor 
> needs to be *cleaned* and *lubed*, can't hurt to do it.  My last 
> distributor job didn't go very well and ended up at the shop for fix 
> fixing.  Any advice on the following would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> How far to dismantle?
> What to clean with?
> What to lube with and how?
> Other things to check, watch out for?
> 
> This dist came from the brown CA bus, and is now installed into my 
> beige bus along with the other stuff to make it a CA engine.
> If other parts from the brown bus is an indication, the distributor 
> is original, has 200K on it and probably has not been maintained.
> 
> - Jeff
> (2) '80 Westi's
>