Oil Leak Distributor

[Guest si-gti]

Car has been losing a lot of oil recently, just found an oil leak underneath the distributor cap and there was fresh oil coming out, do i need to replace the distributor or is it just the seal?

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

The seal between distributer and head commonly fails and I guess there is one in the dizzy but never seen enough oil in there to be of real concern. Givent he cost of a dizzy I'd not replace it unless I had to. The odd spot of oil in the dizzy is not unusual and as far as I'm aware causes no problems.

[Fast Road Jay 0]

my 1.6 gti was doing this a lot and it used to drip from the vacuum advance valve as it run down the dizzy, i cured it by taking the dizzy off and siliconeing it to the head - leak stopped and didnt cost a penny, bought a spare dizzy and seal since then but being as it hasnt leaked since (been done for over a month) i havent fitted it!

[richsmells 2]

The distributor seal hardens up over time and becomes less malleable. Cut the old one off and fit a nice fresh one (about 50p). Mine was leaking quite badly and a new seal cured it.

[damo 17 2 Cars]

i had a similar issue.

 

mark the dissy location on the engine, un screw and replace its seal / gasket ring and pop it back on. Quick job and cost less then a pound

 

this worked for me, but i need to tweak my timing i think.

[daza 0]

I have just changed the dizzy seal again but the old one lasted about a month,that can't be right?

What would cause it to go so quickly please?

 

Edit:when i took old one off the outside of the seal had little bits hanging off it.

Edited June 28, 2008 by daza

[daza 0]

I will take a photo of the old seal(between head and distributor) if i find it but what can cause the seal to be frayed round the outside of it?

Edited June 29, 2008 by daza