ok i was checking my oil earlier and noticed that there isnt a ground wire going to my distributor..and i dont see any loose wires anywhere near it. can someone post a pic of their distributor or something cause i cant seem to find anything on this and ive been reading through searches for like an hour. also i noticed a little bit of oil in my dist cap so im guessing i need a new dist o-ring. but what should i use to clean the oil out? i dont want to damage anything cause new distributors are pricey. thanks in advance for your help!!

 

maybe it grounds it self through the block ?

 

naah there is a clip on the side of the dist by the adjusting bolt that the ground is supposed to plug onto. .

 

No, there isn't. The clip you are talking about is probably for the plug wire holder which is likely MIA.

The only thing that plugs into the distributor is the wiring harness, which is like 4 wires. Elton is right, it grounds to the block.

If you have oil INSIDE the cap, just getting a new exterior O-ring will not solve the problem. The internal seal is leaking.

 

ohhhh. ok i understand. well i just got a new o ring and put it in along with a new cap and rotor. the old o ring was deteriorating badly so hopefully i dont need a new dist. it has also been running really rough and when i put a timing light on it the light doesnt blink consistently. its kind of erratic. i replaced the vafm and the ignitor and coil a few weeks ago but that didnt help. my tps is also fine so its not that either. any ideas or suggestions?

 

It should blink at a fast constant rate. If it isn't, that tells me either the rotor is not making spark at the cap, or the wires are bad.

I would start with a general tune up. And for the love of god, please use OEM parts. Some stuff doesn't matter but plugs, wires, cap, and rotor do make a big difference.

 

yeah i got my cap and rotor at the dealer. the wires arent oem though. i need to do a compression test... last summer i replaced my hg's and rebuilt the top-end and i go through oil now so i think its getting past the rings.