1976 FJ40 - Distributor Issues / Worn Distributor? (1 Viewer)

[sokoloka]

Have owned my 1976 FJ40 for 5 years now - always been a patina'd driver, nothing fancy but a cruiser. Over the past few weeks it's become increasingly difficult to start (cranks forever, stumble starts a few times, finally gets started) and the idle has now gone to s*** like it's missing on a cylinder or two.

Got it started today and when I went to check the distributor clamp to make sure it's snug and didn't skip timing, I noticed that if I put my hand against the dizzy and place a little pressure on it away from the engine block / towards the passenger fender - the idle instantly jumps up and smoothes out immensely.

Dizzy hold down clamp was tight against the block and snug against the body of the dizzy but I can tell it's not the original screw in the clamp as its got a 3/8's hex nut on it. Tried adjusting the clamp to see if I could hold the position it runs great in but to no avail. Don't think it's just the cap as I can achieve the same results by gently placing pressure on the distributor body or lightly pulling on the vac advance unit.

What am I looking down the pipe of? Does this sound like a dizzy grounding issue? Worn out dizzy? Rotor and cap? Thanks guys!

 

[Pighead]

Which distributor do you have?

 

[thorslc1977]

With engine off, remove cap and rotor and see if shaft has side to side play. If so distributor (shaft/bushing) is worn. Also where do you have to gap points to get proper dwell? Should be .018. If you have to be in the .012 or lower your shat/bushing is worn. I bought mine new in 1977 and that is one of the few OEM parts (distributor) that I have had to replace due to wear.