pulling distributor

[1990LTD]

How does one remove the distributor on an EFI 5.0? Explain as if I were retarded, if possible.



Can you get away without using a special wrench?

[BerniniCaCO3]

nope, never heard of a special wrench!

Pull the plug wires first, of course. I numbered them all for my convenience.
Pull the cap; two little clips. Cap can only go back on one way, no worries there.

Make note of where the rotor is pointing to. Ideally, get a 15/16" socket on the end of a breaker bar and turn the big bolt inside the crankshaft pulley to turn the engine over to TDC.
At TDC, the rotor will be pointing away from you, towards the firewall. It will not be perfect, it will point just slightly towards the left-- don't panic.
But it actually doesn't matter, just so long as you really do know where that rotor is pointing to.

Now that you know where it is, so you won't screw up reinstallation, there's really just a single 1/2" bolt at the bottom, where the distributor meets the block, holding down the distributor retainer. An extension and a universal socket or swivel adapter makes it easy to get to. If you don't want to retime it, although that might be best, wipe clean the steel/iron at the base of the distributor and take white out, soapstone, paint and a fine brush, whatever the hell, and make some hash marks so you know where it was lined up before.

The distributor gears mesh with the camshaft gears with a slight spiral, so when you pull it up, it will rotate several degrees at the same time. I want to say ccw, but it'll be obvious when you pull it anyway.
Plausibly the o-ring might make it stick in place a bit, though it didn't for me; just wiggle it to break free if that's the case. That 1/2" bolt is all that holds it.
You don't need to grease the gears; it gets oil through the camshaft.

To reinstall, reverse above ;-)
Just again be aware of the spiral gears, so I think you need to drop it in slightly ccw of where you want it, so when the gears mesh as it slides in, the rotor will turn to the right a few degrees and be right where you need it.
Now you can retime it. There's a punch mark on the base of the distributor and on the block already, which will be darn close but can still be a few degrees off, so don't rely on it. But you can line that up first, start the engine, and fine tune with your timing light.

[Brandon]

Very good description!

[86VickyLX]

If you're one of the unfortunate ones that have a distributor that is stuck in place, you'll need to pry it up carefully. This is normally caused by corrosion between the aluminum distributor and the iron block. Also if the O ring has dried out, or was reinstalled without lubrication... this can make it very hard to remove the distributor as well.

[Brandon]

Yeah very true. My dad one time had to chain hoist on out cause of that. He hooked it up to a tree straight up and down. It was seized in there so badly he said. It was on a old ford truck at the time. You could imagine how funny that looked! Lmao

[johnunit]

I'd be just waiting for some old timer to come by and point out that's not how you hoist an engine.

I've been thinking this site needs more sticky'd or otherwise categorized writeups, and bernini's post would make a good one with a little editing and a picture or two.

[1990LTD]

I've been thinking this site needs more sticky'd or otherwise categorized writeups, and bernini's post would make a good one with a little editing and a picture or two.

+1 that was very helpful, thanks.

[gadget73]

The only time I've found the special wrench to be useful is on a Chevy.

[ford man]

Not to criticize anything already said... but the easy way is just mark the base of the distributor to the block. Mark the rotor position on the distributor. I use a sharpie. Then as you pull it out mark where the rotor stops; that is your starting rotor position when you put it back in. When you put it back in and it slides down it will go back to the position it was originally facing. Check your o- ring when you have it out as already said. Sometimes it helps to oil the shaft to help the distributor slide back down. If you have trouble taking it out in the first place let some nut buster or wd40 soak in for a while.

You don't need to turn the motor over with a breaker bar and find top dead center. Just mark those three positions and you'll be fine. I wouldn't pull every plug wire off either... just set the cap to the side.

Make sure you don't turn the motor with the distributor out.

If you are going to check the timing I find it best to mark the balancer with some paint lines. It's impossible to see if you don't mark top dead center and 10 degrees before top dead center with some white paint or something.

[sly]

white out also works well for marking things up... as do crayons

[1987cp]

Bernie, remember that you've got to make sure which TDC you're at if you're going to go to the extra trouble. Not much help if you point your rotor to "1" with the cylinder at TDC on the exhaust stroke! But it really works just as good to note where the rotor is before you start, so long as the crank doesn't turn while the distributor is out.

My favorite solution for a distributor wrench is a 1/4" drive wobble socket. When I can't find that, I use one of my 3/8" drive wobble extensions, but the wobble socket really makes things easy.

[mrltd]

Usually you can pull the cap and put it aside without removing the plug wires...

[tikitiki65]

I'd recommend checking out this link:
http://sbftech.com/index.php?PHPSESS...a&topic=7114.0

In addition to the spark the dist also controls the timing of the fuel injectors. I did an R&R of my distributor on my lincoln once and got it off my a tooth or two and compensated by moving the wires on the cap. This would have been fine on a carbed engine. The car fired up and ran fine but I was all of a sudden getting poor mileage. Redid it per the link above and all was fine.

[1987cp]

Usually you can pull the cap and put it aside without removing the plug wires...

This is frequently possible, no? Reinstalling all 8 plug wires in the right locations is always a pain.

[1990LTD]

reinstalling the plug wires is the least of my concerns