hakukamana Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Well as the story goes, started to do Cruisers Renix upgrades and things were going pretty good. Till I noticed engine oil in the base of the distributor, cleaned it all out sprayed it with electronics cleaner, restabbed the distributor back in, works great. Checked it again this morning found about a tablespoon of oil inside the housing, and noticed it splashing up to the walls of the cap. I had checked the seal from the distributor to the engine block, good to go. I am sure that I am getting oil up through the shaft from the crankcase, but how? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakukamana Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 Just a side note, the distributor is a motorcraft distributor, not a Delphi one, I was a little suprised GM parts I knew were notorious in Jeeps, but Ford parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParadiseMJ Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 The gasket is just a little paper one, if you had it out this time or before it may not have been included...or it's torn, or just plain worn out. Besides, it's pretty much a straight shot from the pan, pump etc. If you have any obstruction in the CCV system, it may be escaping up the shaft. All I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 What year, what engine, etc. etc. Either way, the o-ring is probably missing from the distributor shaft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex06 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Pull a junkyard dizzy and swap it in. Easy troubleshooting, esp if the Renix motors use the same dizzy as the HO. Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Pull a junkyard dizzy and swap it in. Easy troubleshooting, esp if the Renix motors use the same dizzy as the HO. Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk They don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockfrog Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 If you want to fix that leaking distributor ... Get one from and 89 or 90 and swap it in. Motorcraft made the stock Renix distributors. Anyway, the leaking is the result of worn shaft bushings. I chased this around for a few weeks until cruiser mentioned there was an issue with the earlier dizzy's. The only gasket is the small paper base gasket, I didn't find any orings when I tore my old one down. Replacing the gasket will not solve a leak inside the dizzy body, that oil is being pushed up the main shaft. 87-88 are most prone to this, the 89-90 were changed to address the leaking issue. I recently had to deal with this myself. My 88 dizzy only got worse and worse until I replaced it with one from a 90. Now it doesn't leak at all. Keep the internals from the old dizzy though as they will be good spares. Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockfrog Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 As for the GM and Ford thing ... That was typical of the AMC era (Any Motor Corp) they pretty much used whatever was handy. Most 4.2L use d the Ford Duraspark ignition and distributor ... The 4.0L is a round about revamp/redesign of the 4.2L (well ... the 2.5L I-4 was directly designed off the 4.2L and the 4.0L was designed off the 2.5L - essentially a 2.5L with 2 cylinders added). Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakukamana Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share Posted October 15, 2016 Well finding a used dizzy is not as easy as some would expect. We don't have a lot of JY's over here and there are no MJ's in them, early Cherokees are a rare find as well. I thought I put in the tag line 1987, 4.0L regarding the motor. Went to NAPA and got a reman, $88.00 I think they get these from Cardone, only comes with a 12 month, 18K mile warranty, The oil pressure up the shaft would be my guess as well, didn't realize there was no o-ring on the shaft. I stabbed the reman in last night, tight, very tight fit. I had to walk the shaft down a little at a time to get it to engage with the pump and gear. The old one came right out and dropped right in, not tight in the bore at all. Fired right up, but we will see how long this one lasts. Thanks for the help guys, had a lot of 4.0's in my years but never had one that had oil in the distributor housing. Had me stumped as to how engine oil was walking up into the distributor base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 http://www.morris4x4center.com/mopar-distributor-gasket-33004595.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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