940 distributor - gasket?

[Vintoni]

Hi all

I'm just swapping out the distributor cap, rotor and oil seals on my 1997 940 wagon. I've removed the distributor to clean it up and replace the oil seals but there seems to be some sort of gasket material left over. Some on the distributor and some on the cylinder head.

I've cleaned it all off but does there need to be a gasket here? I didn't think there did. Or has a previous owner just decided to stick some sealant around it?

Cheers
Vin

[taiwan740]

I doubt it - distributor cap and rotor is a dry part. They can get oily on the 940s when the oil seal goes, so wonder if some previous owner has RTV'd around it incorrectly.

There is sometimes a dust cap inside the distributor cap which the rotor pokes through, to stop metallic dust from the rotor getting all other the place, but as for a gasket, don't think so.

I haven't replaced mine on my 940 so it might be different therefore I reserve the right to be proved wrong and called a knob.

[Vintoni]

Haha! Thanks mate, that's what I thought. I'm replacing the oils seals in the dizzy anyway so it's all good.

[TonyS9]

The distributor does plug into the cam so one side of it is in the oil

There are 2 O-ring seals you can see when you remove it, but the main problem area are the rotating shaft oil seals (2 of, quite small). Its extremely difficult to change these as you need a special tool to remove the pin from the shaft.

There is no gasket.

[TonyS9]

This for a 700 I think, the 940 doesn't have the hall sensor, it uses a CPS (flywheel sensor) instead. Distributor is similar though.

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/Vol...ShaftSeal.html

[Vintoni]

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm not doing the shaft seal, just the two easy ones. We'll see how she goes. I can always replace that at a later date or just get a new Distributor.

[TonyS9]

The last time I checked the distributor was £300+, probably NLA now.

Probably cheaper to go wasted spark distributorless, costs about £100+ and needs some delicate soldering. Does lead to some nice low end torque and no hesitation, if you are used to the normal hesitation from a slighly oily disti.

Incidentally the o-ring rarely leaks, sods law says it will be the hard ones to change that need changed

[B10B]

Unfortunately it nearly always is the centre seal that leaks.
About a month or so ago I took a spare one apart to see if it could be made good.
The pin punched out no problem in a sturdy vice.
I got two seals from IPD, one for the repair and one for ref so I can try to find something that will match.
You also need fibre washers with an ID of 14mm OD 24mm, ones for a Toyota fit and I left it with our small hardware rep.
Because of the current goings I have not got the washers yet or been able to look for suitable seals that match, when I can and have received the washers I will post up refs for each.
Might be of use for anyone wanting to repair theirs.

[TonyS9]

The seals spec is on an web page somewhere but yeah I tried an failed to source the fibre washer. Then failed to separate the pin, I have no vice.

Would be good to get an approved vendor part