And yes, i did remove the screw from the rotor. I have pulled and pulled but nothing. Is there a tool for this? I am still at the stage were I havent used screwdriver and I hope not to go there. Nothing to pry against. Any Ideas, please 97 Civic

 

screw driver and pry against the edge there's a port you can fit a screw driver into the center.

This is one of the mani reasons I went with the coil on plug retro fit....hate those stupid distributers.

 

You could also try tapping the rotor mildly/softly with a hammer. It might shift it down onto the post a little bit breaking it free of the grip that is holding it, or maybe the vibration will knock it loose.

I do mean softly though. Don't want to shove the shaft into the engine with a swift beating. Tapping by some peoples standards can drive a 16 penny nail through a 2x4. That's too hard.

Another trick is to take a long shoe lace and wrap it around the base of the rotor a few times. End up with each end of the shoe lace or twine 180 degrees of each other and yank firmly and repeatedly. This is essentially the same as prying without putting any stress on any other part other than the rotor and then only in an outward direction.

 

Remove the distributor from your car and, on a work bench, carefully cut off the rotor with a Dremel-type tool.

 

http://ask-the-electrician.com/distr...-assembly.html

 

Thanks TomCat39, RonJ and Parts Hero. We will see were this leads me today

 

Use a flat head and pry on one side carefully and do same for other side of rotor.

 

Do as ronj says. Use a dremel cut shallow slots in the rotor collar and then using a screwdriver separate the slots with a twisting motion

 

As you probably noticed this is a fairly common issue. I prefer the dremel tool method. If you remove the distributor, make a mark across the distributor base and the block so you can align it to the same position when you reinstall it.