murphy's law

dspilot · Dec 23, 2006

In trying to start a good maintenance plan on the jeep, I decided to change the plugs/wires/rotor and distributor cap. A pretty straight forward one to two hour job, right? Not for me.......Both bolts holding the distributor cap on broke the head off.:doh:

Any advice. I am planning on taking out the dist. tommorrow and using an easy out.

Tips greatly appreciated!

BS87 · Dec 23, 2006

1st time i did my plugs i slightly stripped out the threads on cylinder no1 somehow. The plug will tighten, jump back a thread, tighten, etc. Luckily it tightens enough before it jumps back, and i just plug it in and go. 99% sure it's not a good situation, but it runs fine.

Hypoid · Dec 23, 2006

PB-Blaster is your friend!

Might as well index the motor, find another dizzy just in case. AAMOF, if you buy a replacement first, you won't even have to pull the original.

dspilot · Dec 23, 2006

I'm hoping not to have to buy a new one. What does a new one cost anyway?

PB blaster crossed my mind about the time I first put the wrench to it.

Wayne Sihler · Dec 23, 2006

dspilot said:
I'm hoping not to have to buy a new one. What does a new one cost anyway?

PB blaster crossed my mind about the time I first put the wrench to it.

Advance auto has them for $60.00 plus core.Did the same on the one in my 87,but after pulling the dist out the internals were shot,not only the broken screw. Anti-sieze is your friend.
Wayne

dspilot · Dec 25, 2006

easy enough to fix. I yanked the distributor, drilled thru the broken screws, and mounted the cap using a couple of #10 bolt/lockwasher and nut. Runs like a top.

UNCC_99XJ · Dec 25, 2006

Say hi to Murphy for me will ya? Haven't seen him in about an hour or so...lol

PETEY · Dec 25, 2006

I hate Murphy

He seems to have taken permanate residence around here.

sidriptide · Dec 26, 2006

BS87 said:
1st time i did my plugs i slightly stripped out the threads on cylinder no1 somehow. The plug will tighten, jump back a thread, tighten, etc. Luckily it tightens enough before it jumps back, and i just plug it in and go. 99% sure it's not a good situation, but it runs fine.

he didnt strip the hole in the head..

if you get a good quality drill bit small enough to center drill the broken screw it might come out just from the heat and twisting force of the drill once it bites.. you could probably do this with the distributor in place. otherwise tap it for the next larger machine screw size.

BS87 · Dec 26, 2006

sidriptide said:
he didnt strip the hole in the head..

Oh i know i'm just agreeing that sometimes even the simplest things turn into a pain.

Matthew Currie · Dec 26, 2006

BS87 said:
1st time i did my plugs i slightly stripped out the threads on cylinder no1 somehow. The plug will tighten, jump back a thread, tighten, etc. Luckily it tightens enough before it jumps back, and i just plug it in and go. 99% sure it's not a good situation, but it runs fine.

If it does go bad, you should know that there are specific helicoil kits made for spark plug holes. You can probably get the correct kit for your head without too much expense. The kit comes with a special oversize combo reamer-tap, that rethreads the hole in a slightly larger size, into which you then install the helicoil, and you're good to go. Not terribly cheap, but many times cheaper than a new head.

Though it's rare to strip out a hole in a cast-iron head such as the XJ's, it's pretty easy to do on aluminum heads. You can tear the threads off irreparably just taking out a seized plug, and the steel helicoils produce a thread that's not only good, but less prone to seizure than the original.

Wildride15204 · Dec 26, 2006

My cap is held on with a phillips head bolt. Bummer

murphy's law

dspilot

NAXJA Forum User

BS87

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Hypoid

NAXJA Member

dspilot

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Wayne Sihler

NAXJA Member

dspilot

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UNCC_99XJ

Twisted Up

PETEY

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sidriptide

nobody of any consequence

BS87

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Matthew Currie

NAXJA Member #760

Wildride15204

NAXJA Forum User

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