Distributor Cap & Rotor Arm

You will need to lock the crank.80nm and threadlocked.

Ok - so I have removed the central allen bolt - 10mm.

I want to replace the camshaft seal. The first half of the rotor carrier came off fine. Now I have removed the distributor body; now I want to remove the inner half of the rotor carrier - it seems to come part of the way then get stuck?

Then I presume I need to prise the old seal out and press the new one in?

And I also understand I must not rotate the engine. What could fall out if I do?

Andrew

D'uh - now I see - it won't come out until the seal is out! I need to prise the seal out first... I'll wait to get a new one before I do that!

I need to prise the seal out first... I'll wait to get a new one before I do that!

One little trick I saw in an engine manual of some other type of car, was to drill a small hole in the face of the seal, and screw a self tapper into it but not fully in. Then you can use a pair of pinches, or similar, on the screw to pull the seal out.
But you are right ...... wait till you have a new one ready, and use the distributor casing to press the new seal in as you screw the casing back into place.

Hmmmm.... I don't know if I've wasted my time or not or done more damage in the meantime or something!

I have replaced the seal but unfortunately the drive thing was scratched right where it runs against the seal. I tried to polish out the scratches but it's probably a fruitless effort...



Thing is, I don't know if I damaged it when trying to remove the seal (I used a screw at the very edge of the seal after knocking a hole in it with a sharp implement) or if it was damaged before... And I don't know if it will cause an issue with the seal:

20161217_171454.jpg

So... I refitted it anyway and put everything back together for now. I'm still looking at going distributorless in the future, but I'm unhappy about the current state of the distributor drive. So now I'm on the hunt for one. Does anyone have one in good condition?? I'll post a Wanted ad...

I also replaced the distributor dust cap - the internal one with the O-ring, as mine was cracked and in a bad way.

Andrew

[mettersl]

I'm told that a degrease and then fill the scratechedps with epoxy, wait Until it is cured and then gently flat it down to the metal level will work with oil seals, but better still would be just working....

but I'm unhappy about the current state of the distributor drive. So now I'm on the hunt for one. Does anyone have one in good condition?? I'll post a Wanted ad...

Andrew........ I am very surprised to see that amount of "damage" on that part, I suspect it was not done by you if you were using the self tapping screw method. It really looks as if someone has replaced the seal before and used a screwdriver to pries out the old seal ..... the score across the original seal bearing "ring" shows that.
What you can do, of course, is set the seal further into its housing by say, 1 mm or less, and this will give the seal a new undamaged area to run on. Again I have seen this suggested in another manual. What I would do is find a washer which has a diameter just a bit smaller than the seal, and place it behind the distributor housing before tightening up the two screws. This will set the seal back by the thickness of the washer. But once the seal is seated set back a bit, REMOVE the washer, and re assemble. I am sure the seal housing will be happy with the seal set back a bit.
I have checked with Renault as they have access to the UK and France lists over here, but I am informed they cannot supply. Simon Auto looks as if they can supply a good second hand one as they state " Ask Price ", which usually means they can supply a S/H one.
The Part No. for this is 011204.
I hope this helps.
John

Thanks John! I appreciate your suggestions. I have now decided to move to a standalone ECU for the other benefits this gives. As part of that I'm planning to use one coil per plug either sequential or wasted spark. I just want to do away with the distributor entirely.

I'll be starting a new thread describing my experiences and progress shortly!

Andrew