Distributor/Camshaft problem.....please help!

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hoppin62

New Member
1993 Civic Dx 1.5

About 2 months ago I replaced my cylinder head and gasket because exhaust was leaking into my coolant and the car was getting hot. I have cured that problem. When I took the distributo out the first time, I noticed there was alot of play/wiggle at the end that connects to the camshaft and I also notice metal shavings around that area on the distributor itself. It was gold in color and I am assuming it was the worn down bushing shavings from the distributor. I ended up buying a new distributor to put in the car. When I put back everything together, I used the old distributor to make sure everything was gonna work ok. I noticed that it was a little hard to install the distributor, I had to screw it down to fully seat and I could not adjust the distributor freely. Once I started the car, I loosened te screws to adjust the distributor and it moved freely. I removed the old distributor to install the new one and I had the same problem as before, but once the car was started it was free to move and adjust. I noticed when the car was running, I could see the distributor cap moving a little. Everything is screwd on tight, the distributor is fully seated... and the car runs fine! Now 1500 miles later, I am leaking oil through my distributor again! (when I removed the old distributor, there was oil in it also!) My question to you guys is....... Could it be possible that the end of the camshaft that meets the distributor is out of round (warped) from the times the car got hot and is causing the distributor bushing to fail and therefore leak oil through my distributor? Would replacing my camshaft solve the problem? Keep in mind I am having the same problem with both distributors, The cylinder head was rebuilt before I put it back on the car. Sorry for the long story!!
 
Well, take it back off and look at the end of the cam. Are you sure you aren't forcing the distributor to go on 180* off?

Heres what I did....

#1 piston at top dead center (lines on balancer lined up)
camshaft sprocket arrow pointed up and lines lined up with head
put on distributer with rotor on #1 plug

If I did 180*, it would not run. ( or may run but like crap!!)
 
Hmm, that's really weird. There's no logical reason for there to be metal shavings right there unless something is severely wrong with your valve train, but that wouldn't explain the poor fitment of the distributor.

It was very little copper colored shavings and they were only at the bottom key of the distributor. The only thing I could think was that the cam must be a little off from the heat of overheating. I'm going to buy a new cam and distributer and hope it works.. if not, I guess it will be back to the drawing board! I was hoping someone else had or has heard of this problem!

Thanks for your response!
 
if the distributor was "out of round" or cam end it seems like it would fit loosely, question for you,,,, did you relocate the #1 plugwire?, because if it was relocated and the dist was turned 180 to change the timing ( for what ever reason) then it would be hard to install the distributor, they only fit 1 way in there. ii know from exp, if you try to flip it 180 for whatever your reason, the only way to get it to fit is to wrench it down. just for shits and giggles , try flipping it 180 and see if it slides in w/o issue..,, if so then you know that someone changed the position of the #1 wire.and the car may run fine,l but the dist is installed incorrectly, which will cause it to shave the gear
 
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