mitchntx

96 LT1 ...

I had a leak on the front of the motor. Stripped the front of the motor down to the timing cover and I see the leak is coming from the opti seal.

I replace the seal.

In the process of cleaning everything up, I note some oil dripping out of the vacuum port of the opti.

So, I decided to open up the Opti to clean it out. It has a significant amount of oil in the distributor part. The cap and rotor are dry.

I also note a little lateral slop or play in the shaft. I didn't feel any end play, though.

Is this normal?

I used the tiniest amount of sealer on the distributor and cap, reinstalled everything and the car seems to run fine.

I won't really know about the oil leak till I get a track day. I'm jut curious if oil in the distributor was common and if the slop in the rotating portion of the distributor was something to be concerned about.

mitchntx

Anyone have any similar experience? Or is this a common occurrence?

Craddock

My car leaks oil out of the front, but it hasn't done anything so far as I know.

shoebox

Oil in the opti is not normal. It would have to come in through the cap area seal or around the shaft in the back. If you have slop in the shaft, that is probably where it got in (via the leaking timing cover seal).
There is no repair for the sloppy shaft, so replacement would be the ultimate fix for that particular problem.

onemean6spd

i had the exact same problem with my 94 z28 but i didnt catch mine in time and the oil fried my dis so i ended upgrading to the msd dis it has an extra screw in the cap to prevent future leaks its about $500 from summit