123 Distributor
 

I have inherited a 123 distributor(switchable) on my 145 but have no experience of them before. On inspection it seems to have a lot of free rotational play, some between the rotor arm and shaft, and some between the aluminium disc that holds the magnets and the shaft. Combined I would say about 5 degrees or more, and not sprung so it's just 'slop'. The aluminium disc is a very loose and sloppy fit on the shaft and there seems no way of tightening it. So my question is, can anyone with experience of these distributors confirm if this 'normal' or not please.

So it seems nobody with one of these distributors is able to take their distributor caps off and give it a wiggle for me. Over the weekend I emailed 123 in Holland and put the question to them to see if this amount of free play is normal. The reply this morning said I can send it to them to have a look at but it will cost 150 euros +VAT!! Don't think I will be doing that.

Good question, as we had a misfire on our 144 at this weekends Rally and found the cap loose (not much tension in the springs) and it also moved about - not sure it is meant to - does yours misfire as we initially thought we had a fouled plug (not yet checked them!)

It does seem to be like a mis-fire, but if it's caused by the free play I imagine it will affect all 4 cylinders to some extent so the plugs would all look the same. Just got some BP6HS to replace the aging BP7s that were fitted. Not sure why someone fitted 'hotter' plugs and a 'cooler' thermostat, maybe not alot of thought put into those choices. Still need to try standard dizzy from the Amazon to see what difference it makes.

In the NGK heat range system, 7 is colder than 6. 6 is the common NGK heat range for B20 engines. If the engine was suffering from pre ignition or run on using a 7 heat range is a common strategy to try and make the problem go away. A 7 heat range and a cooler thermostat might have been a strategy to try and address temperature related problems.

142 Guy, Oops, got that the wrong way round with the plugs. Maybe because the numbers work the other way round on Bosch plugs. I will see how it runs with the 6's.

Yes, it was much clearer when Bosch had there old heat range numbering system that was like 225 .... No risk of confusion. There current heat range system sort of crosses over with NGK around 6; but, goes in the opposite direction.

As an observation, if the NGK 6 turns out to be hotter than you want try the Bosch 5. I think the Bosch heat ranges are staggered a bit relative to the NGK numbers and that the Bosch 5 would be cooler than an NGK 6; but, hotter than an NGK7.

The man to speak to about 123 distributors for volvos in the UK
is Rob at Amazon Cars,

They even have their own special ignition map for unleaded in the ones they supply

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AWGZot0t24

Telephone

01379 388400

Email

volvo@amazoncars.co.uk

Andrew Brown, I bought the car from Rob at Amazon cars. There have been more responses to this on the 120 series section of this forum. Basically I have established that there shouldn't be any significant play(if any) between the aluminium disc and the shaft, but it is something that seems to develop with some distributors and this is due to the hole in the disc wearing where the securing pin passes through. I have some running issues that I thought might have been caused by this issue, but after substituting an original distributor with points it appears that is not the case because it made no difference. Without some remedial repair I can imagine the wear in the disc is likely to get worse and eventually may lead to the pin coming out.

Ah ok, if you called him he would know if its supposed to have that much
movement in or not?