It's a 1994 2.2L engine. There's an oil leak coming from the distributor. I assume that since it's leaking oil now, that it's going to spill out a bunch all over the engine bay when I pull the distributor out and expose the hole.

Also, I just got an oil change about 500 miles ago (last month). The car gets used only occasionally. In fact, it's probably been closer to 200 or 30 miles since the last oil change. Can I skip replacing the filter? It seems like a waste.

 

No, you don't need to change the oil.

 

I hope you aren't going to replace your distributor just for an oil leak! There's an o-ring on the distributor shaft that enters the head which may be the source of your leak. There's also an internal seal in the distributor that can leak. I believe if this is the culprit, there will be oil inside your distributor as well. There's instructions in the FAQ in this forum on how to do that one.

 

No, so I have a . Nobody can tell me what's wrong. I've asked friends, coworkers, mechanics, they've seen the video, but it's all speculation. I took it to a mechanic once. They were able to reproduce exactly once in the issue in the parking lot, but not in the garage. The fuel pump was replaced last year. The alternator was bench tested several times and confirmed to be working well. The spark plugs were recently replaced and the spark plug boots all fire (using the screwdriver method to observe). Several of my car savvy friends say that they want to believe it's the starter, but based on the video, that's likely not the case. Their words, not mine. This part, the distributor, is the only thing left I can think of that is causing the issues.

 

did you take off the distributor yet ? was it working before you took off the distributor other than the oil leak ?

test for spark using a spark tester. you can find how to vids on youtube, or if you took the spark plug wires off you may have put them back in the wrong spots

 

Something in the ignition systems isn't correct - notice the tach not moving in the second/third try at starting it.

Now why is the question - ICM on the way out, bad ign switch not sending power to the dist

Since this happens - guessing by the post - every now and then it will be hard to "test" because you can only test when it is acting up......without testing it will cost a bit of $ throwing parts at it.

 

Try testing/replacing the ignitor inside the distributor. it controls the spark to the coil and also sends the tach signal to the gauge cluster.

 

I'm going to take of the distributor today. The car has not been working for the last two weeks. The last time I changed spark plugs was two years ago. I've driven about 7000 miles since. I haven't messed around with th spark plug wires since that time.

Yeah it was intermittent for a long time, but now it's just entirely dead. The engine only rolls over. never fires up at all. And considering this total failure happened around the same time that the oil leak took a change for the worse, I think it's related.

I will take apart the old distributor once I'm done replacing it, but If the new one works, I'll probably just use the new one entirely instead of replacing just one part.

 

 

possibly relevant info from what I've seen first hand: an oil leak from the distributor (o-ring or internal seal) can soak into and swell/weaken the heater hose under it as well harden the insulation on wires. the insulation becomes brittle, cracks and leads to wires breaking. I've even seen this inside the loom of the main harness on really bad leaks. oil leaks in just the right place can cause electrical/ignition issues.

 

F22B1 has a proper drain hole and trench to keep the oil from building up or contaminating the internals of the distributor. I would suspect the B2 has a similar feature.
F18A(carb) TB engine/distributor does NOT have a proper drain. When the inner seal leaks it just pisses hot oil all over the ignitor, which is very unique to the F18A... ******* thing.

 

Well a guess anyway... could be the fuel pump and could be the relay under the dash. Relay can get at a junque yard and fuel pump... pass