Distributor Body Whack

Karl

Karl

Well-known member
My Phaeton has started to stall when cold and in the last few days I have noticed it has an irregular miss at idle . It is due to go back into the shop to have the valve clearences adjusted as we opened one up because previously we had a low speed miss and we thought it was due to to tight a clearence The miss went away however the resultant clicking I have is driving me mad and I think is getting worse so we are tightening it up again.

I wondered if this could be the cause of the miss I also wondered if we have an air leak some where as I can't richen it out with the mixture adjust screw . However while it was running it in the garage last night I thought I saw something on the distributor body and went to wipe it off and got a whack off the distributor body (not the leads- I was dumb enough to carefully give myself another shock to check I hadn't touched the leads ) Obviously I have a crack that I can't see - Would this cause it to miss intermittently even if I can't see any arching occuring ?

Karl
 
No kidding!!!.. Yes it can be a cracked housing, moisture, Take a lead wooden pencil around the body and look for a arc,,, don't hang on to the eraser end.. use rubber gloves...if possible, look for spark in the dark while car is running...that is what we call a dummy shock....gottchya, dummie.....
 
Been there, done it :)
Washed car and then started it up; reached over the plug leads and touched one of the of straps with my wrist while standing in bare feet on the wet grass. No question it got my immediate attention.
 
look inside the cap, if its cracked and arcing you will see a faint grey or dark line where the spark has been tracking
 
Re: Distributor Body Whack- Update BOO HOO !

I replaced the Distributor body but the miss still continued.

Unfortunately I have now located the cause of the miss :(-there is a crack in the block in the roof of the valve chamber next to number 3 cylinder which has been leaking. Ouch and it's my Model B Block as well ! Does explain the fact that it did seem to be using more water than my other A ! My advice is that it is difficult to weld cracks in this area sucessfully. Luckily I have a spare reconditioned engine (an A Engine) which I will install with the B head and water pump. Hopefully I will be able to source a B block to repair the old engine . Perhaps I'm better to install the B Bits in an A block ?? Karl
 
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