Oil leak from distributor

[Jumpjet]

I have an oil leak from the bottom of the distributor on my CVH engine. Oil drips onto the bell housing when the engine is running but stops when the engine is switched off.

Whilst I may have the cleanest bell housing in England, I intend to fix it soon. I presume there's some sort of seal that needs replacing, but I'm reluctant to dive straight in for fear of upsetting the ignition timing. Is it a straighforward whip out the didtributor/fit new seal job? or is it more involved?

[wizzer]

Cant be that hard, give it a go, just put it back in the same place

[DAVE.B]

Straight forward job,i presume its leaking from where the dizzy fits to the head and not coming out of the cap.

Remove the dizzy cap.

Scribe a thin line across the top of the dizzy onto the cylinder head.

Disconnect electrical connector.

Remember rough position that rotor arm is pointing.

Undo 3? M6 (10 mm spanner) bolts and pull dizzy straight out from the cylinder head.

Remove the O ring and clean contact areas on dizzy/head.

Lightly grease or oil new O ring and fit to dizzy (without stretching/twisting it).

Hold the dizzy in one hand and position the dizzy in the cylinder head untill it stops and turn the rotor arm to were it was originally.

Turn the rotor arm slightly from side to side to locate the shaft.

When it locates(unable to turn rotor any more)push dizzy so that its flush with the cylinder head and lightly refit the retaining bolts.

The dizzy is fitted with hand pressure only,

Turn the dizzy to accuratley realign the scribe marks that you made earlier and tighten bolts/refit cap.

Refit wiring connector.

It probably took me longer to type this,than it would have taken me to do the job

[Jumpjet]

Dave B - thanks for your very comprehensive reply. It would seem then that the exact positioning of the distributor is not that crucial when you slide it back in to the cylinder head after replacing the O ring.  

A few years ago I had a bad experience when I took the distributor out of my boat's Watermota crossflow engine - didn't put it back properly and ended up having loads of trouble re-setting the ignition timing...

[DAVE.B]

Depends on how you want it to run.Scribing the dizzy to cylinder head will set the ignition timing back to were it is now.Either side of this will either advance or retard the ignition timing.

If i was doing the job myself i would mark it and also check the timing with a timing light before starting the job.

[Jumpjet]

Ten four - is this the O ring I should be ordering?

http://ywkparts.co.uk/shop....al.html

[DAVE.B]

Looks about the right size from memory

[Jumpjet]

Cheers, will give it a go after I've had my new exhaust fitted - still waiting for Wunoff to begin making a new batch...