I loosened the hold down bolt at the base of my 70 ford 302 and the distributor will not turn left or right. Stuck. I can use some advice.
Can you get to it with a pair of channel locks or something to give you a bit more leverage? You don't want to force it too much though as the housings break pretty easily.
Soak the base where it enters the block with brakleen or carb spray....let it sit. You might have to do this a couple times,,soak & spray it. Try tapping the vac adv (gentley) a cpl times,,dont try to get it out right away,you'll end up getting it stuck worse...spray it some more. Be patient,working it back & forth.up & down a few times,spraying the base,,it WILL come out...(by hand)
I have it soaked with carb cleaner. I tapped with with my rubber hammer. NO GO... I thought it best to get some hamb help before a gorilla it. What about WD40?
WD-40 is a solvent and it won't hurt to try it. Just keep soaking it and the rubber hammer on the vac advance is probably better than trying to turn the housing with something.
Try pulling it up and out. First mark where the rotor is aimed. When you get the dizzy up and out,then clean the base, and reinstall with rotor ending up in the original position it was in before you yanked it.
I had to resort to to chiseling one out of a 351c, after a week of soaking, and lifting the nose of the whole car up with a forklift, via a pair of straps around the distributor, failed. Good luck. Apply anti-seize paste to the distributor before reinstalling.
In one shop I worked, 390 Fords were famous for stuck distributors. One mechanic would get the engine hot, give the base of the distributor a blast from a CO2 fire extinguisher, I was awed, it worked. He did shoot the extinguisher under a towel so there was no mess. No good on a non-running engine though... Bob
Build a dam around it with putty and fill it with vinegar. The vinegar is acidic and dissolves the corroded aluminum. If it doesn't work after you've tried the solvent, brake fluid, brake clean, etc then its hammer and chisle time although I did get one out with a slide hammer and steel strap around the housing.
I am hoping not to go full gorilla. If the WD40 does not work I will try vinegar. Worse case is I think the motor is a hair out of timing. I am getting 12-14 inches of vacuum.
Use a real penetrating oil, not WD40. That stuff is useless. One time I pulled the intake to get a stuck dist. out. A tad drastic, but I saved both the intake and the dist.
I like the dam idea, duct seal would be good to use. Really anything poured into it should work. Vinegar is really strong stuff. Bob
After you apply the penetrating oil, and while you are waiting for it to work, occasionally tap the shaft housing. The vibrations will help the oil dislodge oxidation.
Ive also heated the block area around the dist with a plumbers torch and used wd 40 and brake fluid while doing the tap tap.
One good thing about that Ford motor is that the distributor is on the front of the engine and easy to get at. I have used PB Blaster and soaked them, and occasionally would tap the vacuum advance in both directions with a rubber mallet. Once the distributor starts to move slightly in either direction you are winning, but keep putting PB Blaster down into the area where it goes into the block. It will move more and more until eventually you can start spinning it back and forth with your hands. I have also used a strap wrench around the body of the distributor, sometimes in conjunction with the rubber mallet on the vacuum advance. In any event, the idea is to get it to turn before you try to get it to come upward. You may even have to keep spinning it back and forth as you wiggle it upward and out. Cleaning the aluminum distributor shaft with a wire wheel and some fine sandpaper and then replacing the rubber o ring will make it fit down in the hole nicely, and some antiseize will also be a good idea. Don
Could not save that one. Had another already. The forklift tore the top of the housing off. It took several hours to get the rest out, and then the pan pull.... Big fun.
I had a heck of a time getting the one out of my 289 last year, then it took 4 tries to get it back in with the rotar in the correct spot. I still think SBC's should have been factory options in Falcons/Comets.
Kroil, Liquid Wrench or PB blaster and let it soak. If you are able to use a small amount of heat, do this. Heat the distributor shaft gently as close to the block as possible. Now quickly pull away the heat source and quickly cool it with WD-40 and imeadiately try and TURN the distributor. Don't worry about lifting it up vertically, get it to turn back and forth nicely and then resoak with solvent, wait and then turn again both directions until you can lift it up out of the block.
One thing I've used to remove stuck Ford Dist. After you've soaked it & tapped on it, use a "lady slipper" bar to get under the housing to pry up on it. Has worked for me in the past.
I really do not want to take it out. I just need to adjust / set timming. I have not checked it again, today.
I had this thing checked and it is worn out, lets hope all of the advice helps to pull it up and out.
The best penetrating oil as proven by Hot Rod Mag and a few others with tests, was a 50/50 mix of auto trans fluid and acetone. That is what I would try. After soaking it for a day, I would wipe off all the fluid. Then warm up the distributor body with a propane torch just to get it hot, then hit it all around on all sides and down into the block with a hammer LIGHTLY. Then try to turn it with a channel lock pliers.
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