1996 Chev Camaro Z28 - LT1 Dist Shaft Leak

[crownvic]

I have a 1996 camaro z28,with a LT1 engine. I have put 3 seals in back of the distributor shaft; it will not stop leaking. It has the distributor in the front of the engine.

Anybody ran into this problem? Do I have a bad dist. shaft?????

[GRAND MARQUIS]

I would be looking at the possability of the camshaft being out of round causing the dist shaft to run in an ecentric pattern instaed of a circular pattern. I hope my spelling isn't too far off on these words, but you should get what I mean by them.

[wbuxton]

Check for proper PCV flow. Any other leaks?

[fortknoxx]

Check for proper PCV flow. Any other leaks?

yeah, is there any other leaks? if there is too much engine pressure it will find a way to relieve it self. usually from the mode of least resistance. O rings is where i would start if i had to relieve some pressure.
think about it. pressure builds up, the valve is there but not operating properly. so it had to go somewhere. is it the valve that is not allowing the pressure to be relieved, or is it the pcm not telling the valve to fart out the pressure?

[liljoe]

[quote="fortknoxxor is it the pcm not telling the valve to fart out the pressure?[/quote]


That is a reasonable thing to think, not sure of the term-o-nology used, but the theroy is sound..

Just hit me that "fart" is sound too, just not a nice one

[crownvic]

what valve do you mean?

[wbuxton]

I was refering to the Positve Crankcase Ventalation Valve.

[fortknoxx]

[quote="fortknoxxor is it the pcm not telling the valve to fart out the pressure?

That is a reasonable thing to think, not sure of the term-o-nology used, but the theroy is sound..

Just hit me that "fart" is sound too, just not a nice one [/quote]

burp? fart? they both relieve air pressure right? just come from different ends. I figured since we burp the colant system, we'd fart the oil.

[steven kiser]

every one i've done (after the first) i replace the distributor.

[crownvic]

Hi Steven,have you seen this problem before?Did a new distributor cure the problem?

[crmeyers]

We've replaced a lot of distributors in these due to water pump failures or oil leaking internally, but haven't had to replace just the seals before.

[steven kiser]

inspect the cover thoroughly. i've seen them damaged. i kind of feel that if the distributor isn't taken out carefully it damages the cover. i will suggest that if the cover does look like it's damaged make sure you can still get it and probably replace the chain while you're there. the customer will probably notice increased performance. i haven't seen it personally but a tech i know from a g.m. dealer once told me that the slack in the chain can act like a mini impact gun and raise h*ll with the distributor. another suggestion is if you do replace the cover and distributor make sure they fit correctly before you even start to tear down the car. i've seen distributors that have over sized o rings to compensate for resurfaced shafts that are a bit smaller than o.e.m. it's sad the way things are going in our industry. i remember there was a time when o.e.m. meant o.e.m. not maybe better than after market. i've seen o.e.m. that looked like it was made by the three stooges with the help of the nutty professor.

[92zman]

Have u checked the little seal in the back of the water pump have seen alot of them leaking

[GRAND MARQUIS]

How did you come out on this one, people would like to know, we hate to give help and not know if it was helpfull or not. Who knows, maybe what you found will help someone else out in the future..