Couldn’t resist, I went out there and tinkered some more. First order of business was to pull the 1995 distributor and make sure nothing was wrong with it. I compared it to my old distributor which when last installed, ran fine.
Only thing I noticed was that the oil pump drive was clocked slightly differently between the two. I got the distributors facing the same direction and then pointed both rotors straight up, and I noticed the early model was slightly more clockwise than the later model. So I thought maybe there was some weirdness between the two and maybe the new one had something wrong internally, though no idea how that could happen.
Since the split for the new distributor happened at the end of 1994, the 1994 FSM covers the old model and the 1995 FSM covers the new, and makes sure to mention that the distributor for 1995 is new and follows a different procedure. The only actual difference is the spot you set the oil pump drive to so that when you stab the distributor, the tip goes into the oil pump properly. 1994 tells you to put the drive slightly past 11:00, and 1995 tells you to put it slightly before 11:00. This makes sense, and coincides with what I found when I compared the two. So all good there.
Next up I set the motor to TDC for cylinder 1, so that I could start from square 1 with the distributor install. I put the oil pump drive to about halfway between 10:00 and 11:00 and it stabbed right in and the rotor landed right where #1 should be, about 5:00. Still sputters.
I did notice there is some slop, meaning I can turn the rotor back and forth slightly when the engine is off. However, that seems to be more cam gear related and not so much rotor or shaft related. The rotor seems to be pretty snug on the shaft.
I think tomorrow I’m going to try the old distributor again just to rule that out. Best case it works and I know where my problem lies. Worst case I find out the distributor isn’t the problem and focus on other things. It could also still be the cam sensor I suppose, and a distributor swap could also narrow me down in that regard also. I’m not sure what it is, but I’ll find it soon enough. I don’t enjoy finding TDC or stabbing dripping oily distributors, so I’d like to be done with this for sure.
The reluctor on my old distributor is pretty corroded, if you touch leads to it you don’t get any continuity and I sanded it for a while with very fine sandpaper. So maybe my long term if the old distributor works, is to refresh the reluctor and carry on.
Still could have a fuel issue but really, that’s unlikely.
