Siezed distributor, what to do?

[tower of strength]

After 20 years of dry storage the distributor for my twink has siezed , I could understand this if it had been allowed to get damp, but it has been in a plastic box all this time.

Any recomendations as to how to free it off or should I get another one?

Mark

[Jason1]

Wow, I have never seen a seized dizzy

I have seen many worn shafts that flop about.

I would soak it in an oil bath for a few days and if that does not work you will have to disassemble the dizzy and try to remove the shaft.

Hopefully the oil bath will work (I'll keep my fingers crossed)

Jason

[tower of strength]

thanks Jason, Matt suggested soaking over night in diesel or wd40 type oils

I was a bit concerned about doing this (not sure why!)

Mark

[ianf]

My Lotus life started when a friends Father introduced me to his S3 FHC in1975. Driving to work one day he had a distributor seisure caused by a foreign body jamming the rotating bit agaist the distributor case (probably the nut securing the points lead). At about 5,000rpm this resulted in lots of bits of distributor, cap and leads "distributing" themselves around the engine bay!

Ian

[mikealdren]

Mark,
You need to get some lubricant into the bearing surfaces so I would follow Matt's method and use some form of penetrating oil to free things up. Then I would lubricate with engine oil. The trouble with oil is that it may not penetrate a siezed bearing. I use 'Plus Gas' although there was a recent thread suggesting a mix of acetone and auto transmission fluid.
Let us know how you get on.
Mike

[steveww]

You will need to get it rebuilt. Ship it off the H&H Ignition, they do an excellent job. Just another satisfied customer.

[reb53]

Re the "recent thread about acetone and automatic transmission fluid".

I tried to mix these two together and they wouldn't. Lots of mixing merely made ever smaller globules of ATF floating around in acetone.
Tried it anyway on a seized sewing machine component and it was the only thing that worked. ( After heat, CRC, WD40 etc. etc. )

So now I'm a believer.

Ralph.

[garyeanderson]

Hi Ralph

Try laquer thinner instead of acetone, I may work better.

Gary

[264889socal]

Hmmmm.... I picked up the acetone/ATF mixture from a machinest magazine I get. As I said before, the article said ATF, but the picture of the bottle was power steering fluid. I haven't tried it yet, but have a steering component, which has had a puller on it for months with no results. Whacked it again yesterday. Will try the power steering fluid acetone mix today. Also will pass along the mixture problem to the magazine.

Rob

[tower of strength]

3 days soaking in penetrating oil and still siezed solid. I guess its going to be an exchange unit then

[AHM]

A bit of an old thread, but here is a solution.... well it worked for me!

Dissasemble
Soak in thin oil of your choice for a day.
Put in the oven at 110 oC
With a rag in each hand (it is hot!) hold the shaft and bodyof the distributor
Twist!

I just freed 2 seized distributors this way.

Simon