Hello everyone quick question, when I took my van off the road 8 years or so ago I stupidly started pulling the engine apart as it leaked like a sive, after removing tin ware, and axillaries it was put on a shelf and forgotten about until now , my question is did I read somewhere that if you have pulled the distributor out you should never turn the engine as something will fall down into the engine, if so what do I do as I have turned the engine over by hand a few times over the years so does this mean a complete strip down, or am I barking up the wrong tree and just fix all leaks then put back together Any pointers greatly appreciated Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
The danger is chewing up the brass gear on the crank due to nothing pressing the (steel) distributor drive shaft down to keep it properly engaged with said brass gear. I think you'd have noticed something a bit crunchy if this had happened to any serious extent.
Oh ok thanks for the reply, hopefully all ok then as it seems smooth enough when turned over, it's probably only been turned over half a dozen times at most Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
Its very likely that if you turned it over slowly, the distributor drive shaft just lifted a bit and dropped back down or stayed in place and just turned. The crunch if it goes wrong is easy to feel when it happens and depressing . If you are handling the engine a fair bit, its worth fitting a second-rate semi sacrificial distributor.. shouldnt get broken but its cheaper than paying somebody to fix the gear. I think I forgot on mine, turned the flywheel, crunch..lucky I had a spare brass gear and it just put another day on the rebuild..
