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Replacing the Distributor O-Rings
By now, most of us know about the smell of burning oil inside the Vig's passenger compartment. If you smell it, it probably means it's time to replace the O-ring seals in the distributor. Oil seeps past the O-rings, drips on the hot exhaust manifold, burns, and stinks up the car's interior. This month, our Pet-of-the-Month and resident rocket scientist, Lvmilkman2002, was kind enough to write this article of timely interest to our members. We all know about his wrenching abilities—he's an established first-rank troubleshooter for our club. But he's also one heck of a photographer! He took all the pics included in this article! Unfortunately, the pics had to be reduced in size so the web pages could load more quickly (a consideration for those with dial-up connections). The full-sized originals are stunning photographs! (Sorry about that, Milkman. With full-sized pics, this page would take over eighteen minutes to load with a 56K connection!) So here we have his technical expertise, his photographic skills, and his way of explaining difficult things so they're understandable to all. Thanks, Milkman, we appreciate this! "Before you begin, make sure you have two distributor o-rings (222 buna-N) or get them from the dealer Acura #:91305-PN4-003 and a distributor shaft seal. You should also buy a new distributor cap and rotor…you don’t want to do this again. You will also need a sharpie marker….also if you don’t want to do this again. Make sure you know your stereo’s security code, because you will be removing the battery. This job is 100 times easier removing the heat shield and battery!!!! If you are prepared and follow these instructions, this job should take about 1 to 2 hours. "Here is the list of what you need, other than your tools:
"Step One—Remove the battery,
and the small heat shield next to the battery. You
will have to remove three bolts from the firewall that hold the wiring harnesses to the
firewall. There are two bolts to remove that
hold the heat shield in place.
"Step Two—Use
your marker and from passenger side to drivers side mark the ignition wires on the
distributor from one to six…there are six wires because the coil wire is included. These numbers are just for YOUR reference and are
just so you can plug them back in fast without crossing wires. "Step Three—Remove the
distributor bolts. There are two of them. I am NOT talking about the screws that hold the
distributor cap to the distributor body. After
removing the bolts, you should be able to gently turn the distributor from side to side to
loosen it. Do not turn it too much. Place some folded paper towels underneath the
distributor because oil is going to leak out..about 2 oz’s of oil. Gently pull the entire distributor back towards
the firewall. You should now have the entire distributor in your hands.
"Step Four—Using
your sharpie again, mark one of the wings on what the manual calls the
“coupler”. This is the winged piece
that fits into the end of the cam shaft, and it is on the other end of the distributor
shaft from the distributor rotor. You need to
mark from the center of the shaft, ALL the way
out to the end of one of the wings. Place a
mark on the distributor body that coincides with the mark you just made on the coupler
(winged piece)….this will tell where the coupler needs to go after replacing the
distributor shaft seal…..I did not mark all the way to the center of the shaft and I
got “shafted” and had to completely take the unit apart because it was 180 out
of sync…Doooohhhhh.
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