Thread: dist. vacuum advance not working

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last night I put my engine on the mounts I just finished and dropped the dist. in to make sure there were no clearance problems.
I figured I'd make sure everything was working properly with the dist also so I put the vacuum line in my mouth to see if it worked right.
Nothing was happening when I put pressure or vacuum on the line with my mouth. (the cap was off)
I've never really messed with a distributor until now but I thought something should be happening. Is this wrong?

Originally posted by tcodi
last night I put my engine on the mounts I just finished and dropped the dist. in to make sure there were no clearance problems.
I figured I'd make sure everything was working properly with the dist also so I put the vacuum line in my mouth to see if it worked right.
Nothing was happening when I put pressure or vacuum on the line with my mouth. (the cap was off)
I've never really messed with a distributor until now but I thought something should be happening. Is this wrong?

An engine will have in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 in. of vacuum. If you suck on a vacuum gauge I doubt you would get the needle anywhere close to that. Bottom line yer' just not a big enough sucker. HEHEHE Just kiddin'

If you can find a vacuum pump or borrow one from an auto parts supply. (I have a hand operated vacuum pump around here someplace, just for tests like this). Hook the dist. up to the pump and pump it down. It will pull the dist. advance open and hold it to see if it leaks down.

OH OK,

I've heard people say that's how to test if it is working but I wasn't sure if they were credible sources.
I suspected they weren't.
Thanks

Originally posted by tcodi
OH OK,

I've heard people say that's how to test if it is working but I wasn't sure if they were credible sources.
I suspected they weren't.
Thanks

if you dont have a pump sometimes you can push the adv. adv. open with a screw driver or something and put your finger over the end of the vac. line and if its good it will hold it open when you let go of the screw driver.

A somewhat crude and inexact test . . . suck on the vacuum line, put your tongue over the hose which creates a seal and see if you can detect low pressure.
After 2-3 seconds to see if it leaks down, remove your tongue and you'll be able to tell if it did hold pressure.

And stay away from flagpoles in the winter....

Well, I pushed the thing with a screw driver and held my finger over the tube and it didn't hold completely, it held a little though.
The little rod coming from the vacuum canister seemed to be about in the middle of it's groove when not being touched. I could push it either forward or backward with the driver.
Should it have been all the way to one side when at rest?

LOLOLOLOLOL

Originally posted by DennyW
Sounds like the diaphram is good. The other question about all the way to one side. A lot of these are adjustable. You can check by where the vac hose hooks up. They may or may not have an adjustable allen inside. Second, it wouldn't be all the way because it is spring loaded for returning back to the base position. That's why a vacuum pump was mentioned to move it all the way as far as it will go.

denny is right tcodi, if it held at all its ok. if the diaphram was busted then it wouldnt hold any pull.

cool
thanks guys