Re: Distributor Woes

Posted by carla on Sep. 21, 1998 at 14:44:10

In Reply to: Distributor Woes
posted by Anthony Gal on Sep. 21, 1998 at 10:59:39

: A friend who doesn't have access to this website
: asked me to post a specific question. His Model A distributor
: doesn't advance properly.It tends to stay stuck in the
: retarded position and he has to manually get under
: the hood to advance it.What damage can this do if he
: keeps it in the retarded position, after starting and
: this car is driven for short or long distances with it in the retarded position?He's looking at replacing some of the
: distributor control levers, but are the replacement ones
: acceptible?
: Please reply to me, as he doesn't have e-mail.
hello, anthony,
your friend should be able to sort this one out with a good visual inspection--- all the mechanism involved is in plain sight.
first-- does the breaker plate rotate smoothly in the distributor, through the range of motion allowed by the dist cap? --- if not, have the dist out, dissect it, and find out what would keep the plate from moving properly--- repair or replacement will be obvious.
if the dist is alright, then look to the advance-linkage -- does the spark-lever in the steering column run smoothly through its travel? -- a possible problem might be the small lever at the base of the steering column which is pinned to the shaft of the spark-lever--- should this pin have sheared, the lever then would not be able to operate the linkage.
or-- is one or another part dirty, jammed, bent, or binding?
a good visual inspection should reveal the offender-- again, any repair will be obvious, since this is a very simple mechanism.
let us know what you find
carla