Topic: Stuck distributor

[ruppstang]

I  bought a old J code 302 and can not remove the distributor. I have been soaking with penetrating oil and taping with a rubber mallet but no luck. Any one have any ideas.

[carlite65]

oil filter wrench. it's just gummed up around the base inside.

[Bob Gaines]

I  bought a old J code 302 and can not remove the distributor. I have been soaking with penetrating oil and taping with a rubber mallet but no luck. Any one have any ideas.

I haven't had one that a little persuasion didn't get out but I suppose for a extremely stubborn one you could go from the bottom side and take the oil pump off and tap upward on the oil pump drive shaft to coax it out that way. if it is a stock one this should work . The clip used to retain the shaft doesn't take much to move. If it is a better after market one with a fat shaft for extra strength it will most likely not but it shouldn't take much movement to jog it loose.

[67gtasanjose]

I haven't had one that a little persuasion didn't get out but I suppose for a extremely stubborn one you could go from the bottom side and take the oil pump off and tap upward on the oil pump drive shaft to coax it out that way. if it is a stock one this should work . The clip used to retain the shaft doesn't take much to move. If it is a better after market one with a fat shaft for extra strength it will most likely not but it shouldn't take much movement to jog it loose.

+1

works well on the really stubborn ones.

I take it turns back and forth? If NOT, it's not a good idea to leverage on the vac advance.

[ruppstang]

Thanks for the replies I have never seen one stuck like this. I tried penetrating oil for several days and even a little heat then the filter wrench with no luck. Tonight I pulled the pan and oil pump and used a old distributor shaft to tap it out. It ended snapping off the housing just below the O ring and the next section is still stuck in the block. It is very odd since it was stored in side and the cylinders are in great shape.
I guess I need to be looking for a   C8ZF 12127 D
Oh well you can not win them all.

[Bob Gaines]

Thanks for the replies I have never seen one stuck like this. I tried penetrating oil for several days and even a little heat then the filter wrench with no luck. Tonight I pulled the pan and oil pump and used a old distributor shaft to tap it out. It ended snapping off the housing just below the O ring and the next section is still stuck in the block. It is very odd since it was stored in side and the cylinders are in great shape.
I guess I need to be looking for a   C8ZF 12127 D
Oh well you can not win them all.

Wow . That is one for the books . Jeff Yergovich is always saying that the weird stuff only happens to me .Now I can tell him it does to others too. .

[67gtasanjose]

It ended snapping off the housing just below the O ring and the next section is still stuck in the block.

Wow . That is one for the books .

Yeah...rather strange since the distributor, as an assembly, has the drive gear and rolled pin that helps to shove upwards when you tried with the "oil pump shaft approach" from below.

Is the stuck part just the bottom half of the bare housing now?  I'm thinking maybe you must have sheared off the rolled pin and the shaft came out? Or did just the aluminum housing twist off at the O ring (filter wrench approach)

I have found that a somewhat sludgey engine can cause them to stick pretty badly. At the salvage yards this was the common answer, that is to go at them from below with oil pump off. Makes me recall when I once had one in a 351M that couldn't be moved to even adjust the timing, in a California, rust-free environment...nothing to do with corrosion. I never did get it to adjust or come out, but always believed if I had pulled the pan and went that way...it would have come out. Now I wonder if that example wasn't stuck as bad as yours is.

Good luck, but let us know how you got it. Might try soaking the lower housing from below with a spray carb cleaner, drive it up and down, spray again and repeat. Maybe the sludge has it stuck because that occurs below the O ring

Richard

[nham3407]

I can speak from experience on this topic with a 72 351C distributor.  I used penetrating oil, Tranny fluid and acetone mix, heat, Loctite freeze out spray, pipe wrench as well as tapping in on it from underneath.  It was the original distributor and date correct for the motor so I did not want to loose it.  Ending up taking the whole short block to the machinist who was able to get it out with only breaking the vaccum advance unit housing.  I was glad it was saved.  Sent it off to Tim O'connor for a rebuild and dropped it back in with plenty of anti-sieze around the housing where it sits in the block.  That was a lesson for the books for me.

[67gtasanjose]

I used penetrating oil, Tranny fluid and acetone mix, heat, Loctite freeze out spray, pipe wrench as well as tapping in on it from underneath.

NOT too
it seems the 351C, 351M & 400 all used the same basic distributor housing..same "pocket" for water to get in and sit.