HELP!!! Bottom left distributor screw stripped, maybe

[skylinegtx]

1991 Camry 2.0L auto. The distributor screw on the bottom left (if looking at the distributor from the drivers side) will not come out. It turns & turns, but will not come out. Anyone else run into this? I'm thinking the previous owner stripped it out. Can I remove the whole distributor without removing the cap so I can remove the screw? Any idears out there?????
BTY, the car has 130,000 miles on it and I don't think the cap/rotor & wires have EVER been replaced.

[atobe]

the back is probbly broken.... there's only 2 bolts holding the distributor on... 2 10mm ones fairly easy to find if you just look around.... just don't mess up the timing !

[skylinegtx]

I'll get everything timed and remove the distributor. Will also mark the shaft somehow just in case some thing moves. Do you think the distributor will have to be replaced?

[atobe]

nah you can run it with 2 bolts... unless you got money to blow..or some other problem... my friend ran it 10k miles with only 2 bolts holding on the cap.. didn't have a problem

[skylinegtx]

Roger that. Thanks for the help! Much appreciated.

[marc780]

This exact problem happened to me on my 1988 Nissan Z24 truck. I had it smogged at some damn place and the morons stripped the distributor hold down bolt holes. They REFUSED to adjust the distributor to pas the smog ("we dont do that here."). And so they had NO business messing with these bolts at all.
And yet when i got it back, the bolt holes were stripped anyway. I wouldn't have known for a long time, but this problem made itself known by breaking three distributor shafts, one after another. Because of loose bolts, the distributor was moving out of alignment and causing the shaft to break. (Nope Wasnt mine fault, i had never done this problem in 280,000 miles. ) Dumb dodos I dont like smog checks much, or letting dubious types geting their hands on my cars for that matter.

Anyway, i had to fix it. (Key word being "I" - cause lets face it, alot of mechanics, ain't). My choices were replace the timing chain cover thing for lots money or fix the threaded holes somehow. The cover was aluminum which made it even more of a challenge. Ultimately i used a heli coil thing from Pep Jerks and fixed it with that. Still holding.

[marksktr]

wait wait wait...

you say you keep turning and it wont COME OUT?

do you mean it wont GO IN?

idk tho about just having two screws holding on a distributor cap...

seems kinda dangerous seeing that if water resides through the crack and well.... you could see that not being good.

just as a tip, for something like that, i wouldnt just say.. O`well, and just leave it as it is.

you could get in alot of trouble if it doesnt work out like atobe`s friend.

look into it a bit more and find some sort of solution...

[IvanHoe]

Originally Posted by atobe

the back is probbly broken.... there's only 2 bolts holding the distributor on... 2 10mm ones fairly easy to find if you just look around.... just don't mess up the timing !

I think he means the screws that hold the cap on, not the two bolts that hold the distributor on.


My advice for this issue would be to pull the whole distributor out. Only 2 bolts hold it in, it's really easy. Then you can pull the stripped screw out pretty easily when you got it on a bench.
When putting the distributor back on, make sure you align the end right....it looks like a nut with a slot in it.....you just have to align the slot with the gear just inside the engine where you pulled it out, it's easy to do.
.....and dont worry about the timing, it's easy to set it. Go to autozone, and they will lend you a timing light for free. Jump connectors (located in a little black box mounted to the driver's side strut tower......you cant miss it) marked 'E1' and 'TE1' with a little piece of wire.
On the crankshaft pulley there's a little notch cut out, take some white-out and mark it. Also mark the '0' line on the lower timing belt cover(you can mark the '10' or '15' if you like, but mathwise, marking the zero is easiest). The timing light has a clamp that you simply put on the spark plug wire closest to the crankshaft pulley you will be looking at the left on if your standing in front of your engine
Next thing you do is get the light on on where marked and set the timing(Toyota recomends 10 degrees BTDC, but I as most others have, run it a little higher for a little more pep.....I have mine at about 13 BTDC)
When you get the timing right, simply lock it in by tightening back down the distributor.
I was fearful at first messing around with this stuff, but honestly it's much easier then you think
BTW, if you need another distributor CAP SCREW to replace the stripped one, let me know.....Ill send you one, Ive got one or two laying around.

[atobe]

2 screws holding on the cap is fine... it's not like i told him NEVER to fix it..and he lives in TX so it should be fine.. not like it rains/snow there a lot for water to build up in there