MX83 leaking oil from distributor?

[bigfoot]

i have a mx83 cressida and on the way home on friday it started missing under load. long story short: epic amounts of oil leaking from the distributor cap, pulled the dissy out to replace the seal and can't pull it apart. has anybody replaced the seal on these or is it a replace the whole thing. this thing is my daily and i live 17km from work

[petergoudie]

Toyota don't sell internal parts but the drive gear and locking pin are spares. I located a place in Canada that claims to have the seals called Kbox Engineering but they stopped answering my emails. I tried to call them but they listed a wrong number. There is every chance it's just a standard o-ring. Toyota price for the large o-ring on the outside is about $3.

If you pull a dizzy apart before I do, can you post your findings so we know what type of seal is on the inside.

I've tried to add an attachment so I hope it's somewhere on this message.

[bigfoot]

it is definately the internal seal leaking. i got it to the stage it shows in the picture, but i can't get the reluctor(i think thats what its called) off to remove the pick up module to see what is underneath

[petergoudie]

I thought you remove the drive gear and the reluctor + shaft pull out from the top. The reluctor therefore stays on. I would think the o-ring seal is mid way down the centre to allow some oil to lubricate the shaft at the bottom.

[CrUZida]

I've read that most people tend to just buy another dizzy from a wrecker.

[IN 05 NT]

just get a newer 2nd hand dizzy.......i did the same on ours,

[frostyadonis]

how common are mx83 in NZ
if you can find one from a wrecker, grab it with both hands. fit that for now..
but keep your old one...get it rebuilt by an auto elec. (when your cashed up)
then if any more issues down the track. fit the rebiult one

[bigfoot]

I thought you remove the drive gear and the reluctor + shaft pull out from the top. The reluctor therefore stays on. I would think the o-ring seal is mid way down the centre to allow some oil to lubricate the shaft at the bottom.

the trouble is removing the drive

how common are mx83 in NZ
if you can find one from a wrecker, grab it with both hands. fit that for now..
but keep your old one...get it rebuilt by an auto elec. (when your cashed up)
then if any more issues down the track. fit the rebiult one

i have done a temporary fix on it for now while i try to find another one. will probably pull the 7m out and drop in a 1uz or 2jzge in when my project mitsi is on the road

[JZX083]

There is a bearing, a mechanical oil seal and the Oring on the outside. All these are cheap as anything to buy or steal from work whichever and replaced quite easily. The bottom gear comes off with a bearing puller being careful not to damage and you can pull the whole lot out through the top. With the sprocket thing still attached. Being very careful not to bend or damage the shaft in any way. Then you can pull out the reluctor normally very fragile if the oil has attacked it. You may have some cracks in it sealing them up is not a bad idea. Then you can get to the bearing and oil seal in the bottom of the casting. All this i have done with no problem.
Cheers,

[petergoudie]

Are you saying the drive gear does not have a pin to locate and hold it on?

I've read other threads for other distributor types and there was a solid pin that has to be ground or drilled out as the head of the pin was peined over. The replacement kits appear to use one of those spring steel 'roll pins'.

I've had my distrubutor out a few times but never looked closely at the gear. If the gear is a press fit only without a key or flat to locate it, you better be careful to put it back on in the same position. If it's not put back on the same place you might run out of adjustment with the distributor locking bolt.

JZX can you please confirm.

[JZX083]

Mate it is a press fit it doesnt matter where the gear goes back on you will not run out of adjustment. If your worried about it mark the shaft and gear when you press it back on line the marks up but im pretty sure it doesnt matter your adjustmentjust ends up in a different spot to before you took it off!!!

[79GT]

Hey guys, help needed

I have a similiar Issue, I have just bought an Mx83 and I have replced all the plugs, leads and oil. Plugs 4 and 5 were covered in carbon.

I to have oil coming into my Distributor and after all is cleaned it runs ok but ultimately under any load (as soon as i take it out of Park/nuetral) it will miss and be completely gutless. then the more load it is under it continues to get worse and worse as plugs 4 and 5 gum up more and more.

I wouldnt classify the leak out the dizzy as epic, but may be a similiar issue. Any common issues regarding this, especially when only two of the plugs suffering the most. (on the dizzy cap plugs 4 and 5 are at 11 and 2 oclock, so it isnt like the oil is running onto just those contacts)

any advice would be appreciated.

[petergoudie]

Do you have a good spark on these cylinders? Checked for cracked dizzy cap. Plugs should be platinium. Have you set the timing. Remember you need to short out two of the connectors in the test plug to set the base timing.

[79GT]

thanks for those I will double check the dizzy for cracks tomoz. The plugs arent platinum....are they really necessary for everyday running.??

I havent done the timing, but the timing belt was changed in the last 7000 k's according to the guy i bought it from. (he know nothing about the car so I assume he paid someone with a brain to do it)....either way i will check the timing tomoz.

Remember you need to short out two of the connectors in the test plug to set the base timing.

- This however i dont understand....could you please elaborate.

Cheers. Jamie

[petergoudie]

Instructions on how to set the ignition timing would be in a number of Toymods places so do a search.

To set the timing the ignition system has to be put into base mode that is, where the computer is not doing its job as it sets the advance and does other things. Over on the left hand guard is the grey coloured diagnostics socket. You get a piece of wire or bent paper clip and bridge two of the contacts (find out which ones by doing the toymod search - it might even be in the owners manual). This puts the computer to sleep and it goes into base mode. It's then you set the timing to 10 degrees btdc.

To check leads & plugs you can get another piece of wire or just successively pull the leads off the distrubutor to see the effect on idling speed. If you find one that has little effect on the speed it has either a bad lead, bad plug or compression is down.

Platinum plugs are what was fitted by Toyota plus I think they run better. As they only have to be changed every 100k or 120k you will probably find they are cheaper. There is a guy on ebay in Melbourne who sells NGK iridium at a good price.

Also, just because you fitted new plugs don't think they are OK. I once purchased a bundle of standard plugs to fit several cars and I found every car had misses or a failed plug. I thought it was the car but evenually called the plug manufacturer who said they knew there was a problem with some of the batches. I found that one in every 4 plugs failed after a few hundred km or did not spark from ther begining but it was the last thing I thought of.

[79GT]

hey mate, cheers for that. I know how to set ignition timing, i just didnt understand the "sleep mode" as you put it.

I have replaced all plugs and all leads, it is unlikely the new plugs are the problem as it was the same two cylinders that had fouled plugs when i first got the car.
The platinum plugs will be my next step, but the car should "run normally" without them though...and this leads me to my next delemma.

I am thinkin a new rotor button and cap are in order, no cracks but the botton doesnt look super great....but i am still unsure why the same two cylinders are missing when all the terminals in the cap looks similiar condition.

[CrUZida]

Peter, when I bridged out the contacts in my diagnostics box (I gather they are TE1 and E1) the timing does not lock. The ecu does enter sleep mode as the CEL starts flashing, but the timing is still jumping around between 5 at 10 deg.

Thoughts?

[petergoudie]

I can't remember off hand which contacts to short. I'm not sure if its the same two to start the diagnostics.

If the timing jumps around it is normally a sign of a worn bearing in the distributor or distributor shaft. Does it move back & forth if you push it (I'm not talking about rotational slack). If so, that is most likely the problem but not an answer to the oil issue. That's pointing more towards a head gasket issue if the timing is not way out.

[CrUZida]

Good point on the dizzy shaft bearings.
I'll have to check it at some stage.

[andrew_mx83]

dont worry about platinums.

ngk standard all the way @ $3 each