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Replaced my Distributor and wires this weekend...

Redsnake

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tulsa, OK
OK... I finally was able to replace my dizzy on my '96XJ this weekend. With 218K miles on her I guess it was time. I discovered when replacing the dizzy cap and rotor a couple weeks back that my rotor had a LOT of play and wobble to it. So I got an A-zone Cardone rebuilt unit and did the swap.

I've never done this procedure before so I read and read and looked at as many pics as I could. Lined up everything at TDC as best I could tell before removing the OE dizzy.

One problem I had was trying to remove the Coil Pack to get easier access to the dizzy hold down bolt. I'd like to SHOOT whoever designed the mounting location for my Coil. If the 2 thru bolts had mounted nuts/threads on the other side it wouldn't be so hard, BUT there are loose nuts on the backside up next to the engine block and it's a bit difficult to get a 10mm wrench on that backside and also the front side and work them in unison to get the stupid bolts off. Not sure whey they couldn't have mounted the coil in a bit easier access location like all other cars I've personally worked on. OK.. so I get the coil off and bet the dizzy out. WOW was it in pretty worn out shape. I'm really surprised the XJ was even running (albeit it has been running poorly for the past couple weeks... but running still the same).


Cleaned the surface where the dizzy mounts and then installed the new gasket on the 'new' dizzy. Rotated the new dizzy shaft slightly counter-clockwise and slipped the dizzy down the 'hole' and when the teeth/gears engaged the rotor rotated back to TDC and "Thanks be to God" it all lined up just fine. Re-installed the Coil (pain in the rear) and then the new rotor and cap and some New Mopar Performance Plug Wires I'd had sitting for about 2 weeks waiting on the new dizzy. Got everything back together and fired up the XJ to see if I'd get any missing or backfiring. Went to shut the hood and she didn't want to close... so I opened the hood back up to look and see if I'd left a screwdriver or something sitting there... couldnt' find anything and as I aparently went brain dead... my left hand pinky finger got a bit close to the mechanical fan and the score is Fan - 1 Finger - 0... OUCH!!!! the fan hit my finger and took a big chunk out of it... thankfully I still have my finger and it's healing up... hard to type though...

Went inside and cleaned up the damage to my finger... then back out to finish up my job. Took the XJ around the block and she ran better than she has in a long time. No backfiring or missing as best I could tell. I'm assuming if I had the dizzy off a tooth or two I'd be getting some serious backfiring and/or missing... right??? I'm going to assume all is well.

If anyone is getting ready to do the swap... my words are take your time, make sure you mark the dizzy before removal and just make sure you get it all back in the same order.... and good luck.

Looks like I'm going to be looking for a new shroud for my mechanical fan now...
 
Sounds like you did a great job. Kudos. Sorry about the finger.
 
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