89 Celica Distributor Oil leak - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

pixelpadre · 03-13-2005, 10:47 AM

Well it was quite easy removing the dist. I replaced the brittle flat oring on the shaft. The new oring didnt look much bigger than the worn old one. After reassembling everything, I have more oil leaking than before. Is there supposed to be a gasket or sealant between the dist base and block? Should I run a bead of silcon around the oring to insure a snug fit?

fredk · 03-13-2005, 03:35 PM

you eather pinched the ring or its the wrong one, it should be pretty snug in the head

pixelpadre · 03-13-2005, 05:20 PM

its the same diameter as the other that came out. and its not pinched. will a bead of silcon help on the o ring?

fredk · 03-13-2005, 05:38 PM

it should be fatter, the old one is flattened out

pixelpadre · 03-13-2005, 06:04 PM

it is slightly

fredk · 03-13-2005, 06:09 PM

it should be fatter to the point that ya about have to push it pretty good to go past the edge, thats where they like to pinch

pixelpadre · 03-14-2005, 09:01 AM

BTW in researching the cost of a new one, I found rockauto.com to be half the price of its nearest competitor.

marcuslogsdon · 03-16-2005, 02:40 PM

Fredk is right with the o-ring but it sounds to me like the distributor isnt seating it self correctly in the block. check, check, and recheck!!! good luck!!

pixelpadre · 03-22-2005, 05:43 PM

REVISED EPILOG...

After replacing oring, oil is leaking more than ever. I had thoroughly cleaned around and inside of distributor so I could verify future oil leaks. Yesterday, I removed the distributor to verify integrity and and low and behold..... the inside was full of oil.

Conclusion......a second seal inside the distributor housing is shot. There are two drain holes inside presumably just for this reason. I suppose I could try to fix it but it involves pressing machine parts and I'm just not up to that. So I ordered a rebuild from rockauto dot com. With shipping it came to 172. Plus I'll get 35 back for the core.

This should finally put an end to a five year Celica nasal drip that left my calling card in every driveway I have parked in.

Removing the Distributor was simple and took a total time of less than 5 minutes including reassembly. I highly recommend anyone to take on this task to eliminate that nasty oil leak.

Any questions call me at 352.406.7103