distributor leak

[bigbear]

the distributor on my damn civic is leaking. D16Z6 and the distributor was replaced before I bought it like a year and a half ago, and I've also replaced the o-ring with a honda genuine one. Any thoughts?

[pdiggitydogg]

did you torque the mount bolts to 13ft lbs?
did you aid in sealing the ring by lubing it w/ engine oil?

It was leaking before you bought it, right? Before the new dizzy was installed?
Seals and bearings inside the dizzy can causes leaking from going bad.
ie-
there is a seal inside the distributor right above the bearing .. that is where they leak sometimes good luck getting the seal though the dealer doesent sell it i would recomend going to someone who rebiulds the distributors and ask them to sell you one but if i were you i would just go buy a new distributor housing and be done with it


Try some hondabond maybe.
Maybe its not the dizzy's fault...look around it for leaks @ the head

[bigbear]

The dizz was replaced before I bought it, and I talked to the guy a couple days ago and he said that it wasn't leaking on him. I noticed it shortly after I bought the car. I don't remember pre-lubing the new oil ring and it wasn't tq'd down either. My torque wrench is 4 hours away too >=/. It should be close to 13 though, that's around hand tight with a wrench no?

Do you really think that that could be the problem?

If you mean check WHERE the leak is coming from, it's right out the distributor, as to checking the head around the o-ring, well I need to check that too.

[ebpda9]

is it leaking inside the distributor, or outside of it ? i know when the o ring on my accord went bad, it would leak right next to the distributor.

[pdiggitydogg]

13ft lbs is not a lot...its pretty loose compared to lots of things, imo.
You may have it torqued too much and broke something.

You really need to find out where the leak is coming from - that would tell you what you need to fix.
But O-rings are pretty cheap so maybe you need to just do that again...and this time lube it and find a tq wrench.
If that still doesnt fix it then you have a bigger problem...

[soundspeed]

Double check that it's not the valve cover gasket leaking right by the distributor. I had the same thing on my other car. I thought it was the valve cover gasket but it was the o-ring for the distributor. It's worth a a look.

[bigbear]

Yeh, thanks for the input.

I hope it's not the metal surrounding the distributor housing. As far as over tq'ing it, I doubt it, they were always hand tightened and the guy said it didn't leak when he had it. I replaced the valve cover gasket about two weeks ago just cause I felt like it and it was old. It's coming out the distributor alright, when you shut the car down and put your hand underneath there you'll feel it drip.

Grabbing a new one, slappin some oil on, and tq'in it down certainly isn't a bad idea. I'll have to do that... whenever I get around to it haha.

[bigbear]

I went home to VA this weekend and my dad and I tried something he used to do on his 52 chevy, we cut a cork gasket to go around the distributor and the head. It's not the o-ring that's leaking, but the distributor internally.

It was supposedly changed about 2 years ago, is there anything that causes distributors to go bad?

The distributor is missing a "leak cover" according to my chiltons book. Does this have anything to do with the leak or am I just going to have to buy a new distributor?

[pdiggitydogg]

yeah a missing leak cover would do it.....especially if youre missing one
#5 here:
http://www.slhondaparts.com/images/PCI/13S020/021/5.jpg
Honda part # 30107-P08-006

[bigbear]

AWESOME!! So ummm what does a leak cover have to do with the distributor leakin out the cap? Is the distributor supposed to have oil in it? I don't have #9 in the rotor either.

there is a seal inside the distributor right above the bearing .. that is where they leak sometimes good luck getting the seal though the dealer doesent sell it i would recomend going to someone who rebiulds the distributors and ask them to sell you one but if i were you i would just go buy a new distributor housing and be done with it

I like that nice exploded graphic. Where did you get that from?

[AkimboStylee]

you dont have the rotor set screw. umm if you dont have it the wont run to well

[bigbear]

Well the rotor sure as hell don't want to go anywhere.