cirrus plug seals & distributor

Greetings.

My Daughter's car was hard starting, and now totally dead.

My daughter's mechanic told me he has to change the spark plug seals.
(He told me the plugs go traight through the valve covers - that's
the way they are on my brother's 67 belvedere.) He told me he has to
take the intake manifold off to get tot the back three seals. Is this
correct? I would think it would be a fairly simple job to change the
seals once the plugs are out - maybe take valve cover off.

Also he said he needed to change the distributor. I see them for
$213.98 at Advance Auto Parts. He wants to charge me $400 for parts
and he tells me he isn't marking it up.

So what's the time it is going to take to change seals and to change
out distributor, plugs, and wires? Can he get a decent distriutor for
about 200 bucks?

I would probably do the work myself but her car is 300 miles away.

regards,
Bob

 

Was this car built by any particular manufacturer, in any particular
year? Does it have any particular engine? What the mechanic is
saying would be true for some engines and false for others.

Note that when you say "maybe take valve cover off", one of my
(non-Chrysler) vehicles requires taking the top half of the two-part
intake manifold off to remove the valve covers. For that matter, you
have to do remove it to replace the PCV valve.

 

If oil is leaking into the plug holes the seals must be replaced and it does
require the intake to be removed to access the plugs, wires and seals. I
would use MOPAR plug wires and not cheap ones. The last time I priced a
distributor for that vehicle from the dealer was 1400.00 And no it isn't a
typo. There are alot of junk parts out there that are claimed to be
remanufactured and wont last long at all so be careful what you get. If you
can find one with a good warranty purchase it instead of the cheapest one. I
know this is a 2.5 6cyl because the only other engine application would be a
4 cyl that went into that vehicle. But always post engine size, year and
make when asking for help.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

Did he say why?

What is wrong with the distributor? Changing the distributor is a
common tatic if the mechanic's diagnostic machine says that the
spark is uneven. The idea is that a worn distributor shaft throws the
spark timing off. Sometimes this is true. More times it isn't. In
any case, what wears out are the distributor bearings. If the
distributor is pulled then you can check easily to see if there is
play in the shaft that shouldn't be there, and there's likely a local
auto electrical place that could replace the bearings if so. You
can also get a distributor out of a wrecker pretty cheaply.

I would tell him to leave the distributor alone, frankly. Unless he
has pulled it and is telling you the shaft play is a problem. In which case
I
would go with a wrecking yard distributor. As long as the mechanicals
in the wrecking yard distributor are fine, you can transfer the
electronics from the old one to the new one. A lot of wreckers will
deliver parts to the mechanics.

Ted

 

The OP said it would not start, So I assume the distributor is bad





Changing the distributor is a

 

funnny thing is i get stardand parts and guess who's part number is on them
chryslers and they are new not reman
i got a coil pack for a 4.0 jeep engine the other day my cost 90.00 dollars
jeeps price,my cost 215.00 and guess what chryslers part number clearly stamped

 

You cannot trademark numbers so even a legitimate manufacturer can
use the Chrysler part numbers with no problem.

Are the Mopar logos with the pentagram on the parts?

Ted

 

I hope you meant "Pentastar".

Larry

 

I guess Cerberus will be changing more than we thought....

 

Something to do with that whole guardian of the underworld thing?


I seem to recall that the Pentastar was going to make a comeback as the
corporate trademark, but then I never heard anything else. I hope it
does. It may only date to the early 60s (the ribbon-and-medallion is
much older, and so is the "DPCD" interlocking letter mark that was on
all the parts for years) but the star is still the most recognizable
insignia of Chrysler. Right up there with Ford's oval and the block GM.

 

Well, it's on the chryslerllc.com website.

 

.....not exactly prominent, is it?

(I have to confess that's the first time I've ever looked at the
Chrysler LLC website)

 

Owning a 1940 Chrysler and having owned Chrysler products all my life,
I prefer the old ribbon/medallion as it was the original Chrysler logo
and has the history of the corporation behind it. The pentastar did
not even say "Chrylser" on it like the medallion. Also, my original
keys still have the DPCD on them.

 

The ribbon/medallion is fine for the Chrysler DIVISION logo, but the
corporate mark is better off being something clean and simple, like the
pentastar. Think along the lines of the block GM versus the Cadillac
coat-of-arms.