90 voyager oil/distributor problem

I have a 90 voyager that i have had problems with. First Ill tell a
little history. This van wa purchased about 5 months ago and it has a
stalling problem where after about 15 minutes of running it will die
and wont restart for 45-60 minutes if not longer. Well I just picked a
good day to mess with it...lol...we have over a foot of snow and 1
inch an hour is still coming down here in upstate ny. my friend had a
ford pickup that would stall if you stopped at a red light stop sign
or whatever. He had to replace the distributor because the sensor in
the distributor was bad but isnt replaceable without replacing the
whole distributor. So i said why not try it. I have a part van so i
figured i would give it a shot since it seemed straight forward. so i
went out and got it off the parts van which was cake. I went to the
good van and since it hasnt been started in 2 months had to jump it.
so i start taking it apart and get the distributor cap and rotor and
things off and i see oil in the distributor. Which I assume causes the
stalling. Since the oil would mess up the reading of the sensor when
its hot and once it cools off its fine. so i cleaned it all up and put
in the sensor from the parts van and it started right up no problem
and ran good for more than 15 minutes. I just went out to check on it
and its dead but im not sure if its the battery that killed or the
sensor because the lights dont come on so i need to jump it to get it
started which im gonna be doing now. But could anyone elaborate on why
the oil was in there and what caused it and what the fix may be. I am
attaching 2 pics of the oil in the distributor.

http://hostedpics.neonsonline.com/mike/Picture-044.jpg

http://hostedpics.neonsonline.com/mike/Picture-045.jpg

 

The distributor is driven by a gear on the front camshaft, which of course
is one of the internally lubricated parts of the engine. It looks like a
seal (likely an o-ring) on the distributor shaft has failed. The oil
shouldn't be getting up in there, so it looks like you found the problem.
I'd swap in the distributor from the parts van and see if that didn't cure
it. Let us know how you do.

--Geoff

 

The oil is there because the seal that seals the distributor
shaft to the distributor housing has failed, odds are that that
failure was precipitated by a plugged PCV valve.

You're also describing a situation where an automotive battery
has been allowed to go dead in freezing temperatures, replace the
battery (it's junk) so you don't create other problems with the
charging system.

 

I actually swapped out the pcv valve earlier and im in the process of
correcting the battery problem. i believed an o ring or gasket went
bad so i plan on swapping out the distributor 2morrow. But since i
have cleaned the distributor out it has been firing right back up
without an issue when the battey has a charge.

 

It would be a good idea to make absolutely certain that the
passage in the intake manifold where the PCV valve screws in is
free and clear.