5SFE distributor rebuild (the one with inbuilt coil), Forgot to mark keying of shaft coupler Options

[Mangozac]

Hey 6GC! It's been a while since I've hung out here, probably mostly because I've stopped spending unnecessary money on the Celi in saving for my next car, and looking at all the hot Celis here is counter-productive to that goal.

Well I've had a very slight oil leak for a while now coming from the distributor. She's a 1998 model, so it's the version with inbuilt coil-pack. About 8 months ago I replaced the distributor mounting O-ring:



And that seemed to fix the problem for a bit. But then about a month ago I noticed that it was leaking again from the same spot (underneath the distributor mount). I'd say it took a while to notice again because
a) The o-ring I replaced was pretty stuffed, so replacing it would have helped a bit, and
b) After replacing the o-ring I degreased the entire engine bay and had it all sweet. The leak drops straight down onto the driveshaft axle, which flicks it all over the back of the engine. It therefore takes a while for the oil to collect in significant enough amounts to drip.

Anyway I pulled the distributor off again and had a look. The leak seemed to be coming from inside the distributor, as there are two drain holes on the bottom side just next to the mounting flange. You can see one of them in the pic above.

After doing some research it turns out that the 5SFE distributors are notorious for leaking oil in through the internal seal. Most people were saying to just replace the distributor, but there's no way I'm forking out 250 bucks when the problem is simply an oil seal! So apart came the distributor. It was a pretty straightforward process which left me feeling pretty confident.

Upon disassembly I could clearly see where the oil had been coming through - there was still a decent amount pooled inside the metal part of the dist. assembly. I would have taken a picture of it but I had already degreased it all.

So here's a picture of the offending seal (on the right), next to the bearing:



The bearing doesn't have to be removed to replace the seal, but in my case the bearing was pretty stuffed too, so I figured I might as well replace it while I'm here. It looks so chewed up because of the jumbo bearing puller I used on it. I just used some hardwood and a vice to press the new bearing on.

So here's my problem. When I pulled off the piece which connects the distributor to the shaft inside the engine (does it couple directly to the camshaft?), I didn't realise that it was keyed. Now I would just trial and error to get it back (it can only go one of two ways), but it involves mucking around with the pin that holds the keyed part in place, which I'd rather not do more than I have to. So can anybody please have a look at the distributor and tell me which way the coupler mounts, as per the below pics:





I haven't bought the replacement seal yet - my local auto store only had the bearing and rotor (the old one was brittle and broke during disassembly). I'll drop by Toyota on the way to work tomorrow, but I have read on some sites that you can't buy the seals from Toyota. We'll see how I go. I also need the distributor cover gasket as that kind of disintegrated during disassembly too....

If somebody could let me know about the shaft coupler keying it would be much appreciated.

[Smaay]

dang i just had my distributor off. if you dont get your answer by tomorrow, ill pull mine and check it for you. i have a 97 are they the same?

[Mangozac]

Yeah they should be the same. It should only have four high tension leads connected to it, not 5 like the older version. Cheers!

[samir0189]

i was in need of getting the internal seal for the distributor recently for a camry, and toyota does not sell the seal, and I couldnt find any other place that did either. Ended up buying a whole new dizzy @ $250. ouch.

good luck, hope you can get it.

[Mangozac]

Thanks guys but I've got it all sorted!

Didn't bother with Toyota for the seal - just took the old one (and the shaft) to a bearing shop and they sold me a new seal to suit. It's just a standard metric size 10x20x7mm oil seal. Not cheap at AU$20, but better than AU$300 for a new distributor!

I reassembled everything and when got to the keyed coupler I was asking about above, I just decided to try my luck - it was a 50/50 chance of getting it right! And it was! Yay! The pin in it is really tight so I wasn't looking forward to having to press it out again.

I stopped at Toyota on the way home to order a new distributor cover gasket. It will arrive in a couple of days time - at least she's driveable without it (unless it rains). Not a bad price at only $5.20 either. For reference the part number is 1912774050 (although I will confirm if this is the right part when it arrives).

Whilst I had the distributor apart I noticed that some of the internal wires going to the magnetic pickups had some big cracks in their insulation, so I coated them in the same silicone that I used to seal the coil-pack to the distributor body.

So total cost for the rebuild, including replacing the broken rotor has come in at under $45. Much better than $300!