When I tried to pull the distributor yesterday I did not pull up any harder than just me leaning over the grill and pulling up. I did "tap" the distributor up and down as I tried, but hardly anything harsh or even remotely a strong pull.
During all this I never got it out far enough to disengage the cam/distributor gear mesh....Pretty close, but it never disengaged.
'If' it is the pump shaft that is lodged in the distributors' female hex drive, and 'if' the pump shaft is of a standard production type (full length 5/16" hex stock), and 'if' it is the shaft retainer clip presenting the resistance to the removal process, then with care as to not cause damage to the distributor or camshaft gear teeth (allow the distributor shaft to float freely, do not apply force to the shaft
), then often the retaining clip can be forced to slide down the shafts length (if the two don't separate first
) with lifting of the distributor body using forceful effort (realize that the distributor is not of a construction conducive to the use of "pry-bars"
); but then of coarse the fallen clip (bent and/or broken) will be lost into the oil pan, and retrieval would be recommended.
'If' this were the path chosen and acceptable results are had, and without the removal of the oil pan in the process, then the next challenge is "dropping in" a new drive shaft into position without losing it into the oil pan
; and realizing that it won't have clip present (won't suffer this issue again!
) and that next time one chooses to remove the distributor and without exercising a certain sum of care the pump shaft may get dropped into the oil pan, as that 'is' the purpose of the clip to prevent.
Now, 'if' this is the issue, one shaft turned in the other, things could be much worse, as often when this happens the lower section of the distributors female hex section will be expanded into the block casting boss's bore relief and have grooved/ground/traded material, and this can prove quite the situation!
Scott.
