drypowder
Les Deplorables
As noted in the thread about the misfiring cylinder due to ignition issues, there was plenty of oil below the distributor, indicating a bad distributor O-ring (very common with old Hondas), and when changing the distributor cap and rotor, we noticed there was a little oil inside the dissy, indicating a bad shaft seal.
So today I pulled the distributor out to change both seals. The heater hose (running from engine block to heater core) is directly under the dissy, so the leaking oil has been dripping partly onto the hose. The hose doesn't feel terrible - I expected it to be very soft and gummy feeling where the oil has been dripping on it, but it's not terrible, only slightly softer than unaffected parts of the hose.
I came into this expecting that hose to be in terrible condition so I was thinking I'd have to replace it, but after seeing and feeling it, I'm thinking that I can safely skip replacement and just reinstall the dissy and call it job done.
Here's what the hose looks like:
Cons to replacing it:
So today I pulled the distributor out to change both seals. The heater hose (running from engine block to heater core) is directly under the dissy, so the leaking oil has been dripping partly onto the hose. The hose doesn't feel terrible - I expected it to be very soft and gummy feeling where the oil has been dripping on it, but it's not terrible, only slightly softer than unaffected parts of the hose.
I came into this expecting that hose to be in terrible condition so I was thinking I'd have to replace it, but after seeing and feeling it, I'm thinking that I can safely skip replacement and just reinstall the dissy and call it job done.
Here's what the hose looks like:
Cons to replacing it:
- oil is no longer going to be dripping on it (well, until the new O-ring starts failing)
- given that the hose leads back to the heater core and is snaked under other hoses, it looks like it's going to be a real pain in the arse to remove old hose and install new hose
- I have to drain and fill coolant to replace the hose. Only ~13k since I drained, flushed and filled; on the flipside, it's been 3 years since that coolant change. But not a lot of miles!
- I have to do all this in my building's parking garage and building mgmt is not going to take kindly to residents wrenching on their property, if another resident or one of the maintenance guys decides to yap to management.
- always possible that while replacing it, I damage something else - it's a tight fit back there.
- nice new hose, feelsgoodman vibe, and absolutely no worries that it's going to spring a leak, spraying coolant out and overheating the engine
- takes care of a coolant drain and fill that I'd otherwise have to do in a year or so
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