I used to be a member here, but inactive for quite a long time. Had to create a new account.
Anyway, here's my problem. I keep getting corrosion on the electrodes of the distributor, so I removed two screens and drilled out stripped thread for the cap screw on the back (forward) hole of the base. I have a 2001 Astro.
First I verified I was getting spark from the coil. The van was running very well before this, but I wanted to make sure that I did not have to deal with this problem down the road.
Before I removed the shaft, I marked the position of the rotor relative to the base. When I tried to reinstall it, I could not get it back into the same position. I finally learned that this is because the oil pump is driven off a key on the end of the shaft.
A neighbor came to help me install it. We removed the #1 plug (the cylinder which is on the left of the engine, towards the front of the van). We used the starter to position the crank so that pressure built up in the cylinder, then inserted the shaft so that the rotor pointed to the electrode for this cylinder. I used a new screw to replace the one on the back that had stripped out.
At first we had the shaft at the wrong orientation because the rotor was pointing to the left to the #1 plug wire, but then realized that the electrode for this wire is on the other side of the cap.
After going forward and back a tooth, we finally got the shaft into a position where the engine would catch, and got it to run but it was very rough. After a while it smoothed out, and we let it run for a minute, then shut it down.
I came back later in the day and tried to start it. It would crank well, but could not start. I'm now trying each tooth in turn to see if I can get it to start, but no luck so far.
Am I on the right track?
Anyway, here's my problem. I keep getting corrosion on the electrodes of the distributor, so I removed two screens and drilled out stripped thread for the cap screw on the back (forward) hole of the base. I have a 2001 Astro.
First I verified I was getting spark from the coil. The van was running very well before this, but I wanted to make sure that I did not have to deal with this problem down the road.
Before I removed the shaft, I marked the position of the rotor relative to the base. When I tried to reinstall it, I could not get it back into the same position. I finally learned that this is because the oil pump is driven off a key on the end of the shaft.
A neighbor came to help me install it. We removed the #1 plug (the cylinder which is on the left of the engine, towards the front of the van). We used the starter to position the crank so that pressure built up in the cylinder, then inserted the shaft so that the rotor pointed to the electrode for this cylinder. I used a new screw to replace the one on the back that had stripped out.
At first we had the shaft at the wrong orientation because the rotor was pointing to the left to the #1 plug wire, but then realized that the electrode for this wire is on the other side of the cap.
After going forward and back a tooth, we finally got the shaft into a position where the engine would catch, and got it to run but it was very rough. After a while it smoothed out, and we let it run for a minute, then shut it down.
I came back later in the day and tried to start it. It would crank well, but could not start. I'm now trying each tooth in turn to see if I can get it to start, but no luck so far.
Am I on the right track?