oil leak around 138 Distributor

[John]

Still "fine tuning"the old girl and have just noticed a small oil leak at the base of the distributor. The greys didn't run a gasket there did they? Because I'm not.
Any ideas troops??

thanks.

[Craig Allardyce]

No gasket John, just an O ring on the housing. Usually they go very hard over time and loose their seal.
Also be aware that the distributor shaft is partially sealed by felt. You should see it when you remove the distributor (there's a small tell tale hole in the side of the housing near the o ring groove). The felt retains some oil for shaft lubrication but also it stops engine oil flooding the area above where the advance weights are. That area is vented to atmosphere as there is 3 holes I think in the outer casing at the bottom below the weights. If any oil gets past the felt on the shaft it can end up leaking from above the distributor mounting clamp.

[John]

Thanks mate. Any ideas if we can get replacement O-rings for them?

[Craig Allardyce]

Thanks mate. Any ideas if we can get replacement O-rings for them?

I got some off Ebay a while back but they weren't a good fit (very tight to get distributor in). Most generic ones are too thick in cross section to fill the groove. The original appears to be slightly square in cross section.
I would take the distributor to a hydraulic place like Enzed and get them to measure up and compare to get the best fit o ring.

[parisian62]

Hi John

My local CBC bearings was able to help me out with this. I took my dizzy with me.

Stewart