chased down my vacuum leak..need help
 

I been trying to find a vacum leak and low and behold I stumbled across it..I ended up using a small airbrush compressor set at 3 psi and rigged up a adapter to my valve cover..as soon as I turned it on I heard the hiss coming from somewhere...I then got some soapy water and there was the bubbles..all around the base of the distributor. My question is, Can I just pull the whole disributor out and check to see why its not sealing? is there some sort of gasket on the base?Its a BB chevy.. any info I would appreciate it..thanks

Yes, you can pull it right out. Remove the cap with the wires still on it. Mark the location of the rotor in relation to the body(dist body). Also mark/note the location of your vac advance in relation to a fixed point on the intake manifold.
After you mark those locations remove the distributor. There should be a gasket where the dist body rests on the intake manifold.. Grab a new one before you start. Good luck.
PS that gasket goes on dry. No sealant. When you remove the dist, note how the rotor will twist/turn counter clockwise just a bit. When you drop it back in you will have to start just a bit counter clockwise from your mark. As it drops it will rotate into place. If you mark everything well you shouldn't have to retime the motor.

If it doesn't leak oil, you don't have a problem. Crankcases are supposed to breath. Not normally through a distributor gasket, however.

that is not an area of a vacuum leak. Appears the gasket isn't sealing completely but would have not affect vacuum.

I'm using a vacuum pump off my valve cover.. And since there's air getting into my system it's allowing my vacuum pump to suck up oil.. I need everything air tight..

If you are not familiar with pulling distributors and the leak is really a issue you want to solve. I would suggest just wiping clean around the base of the dist. with lacquer thinner then wiping a small amount of clear silicone sealer on it.

different kind of vacuum leak. ;)

If you do pull the dist. be careful when putting it back in as it also drives the oil pump and sometimes it won't drop all the way back in because the oil pump shaft is not lined up just right. If the dist. won't drop all the way down, pull the dist. back out and insert a long screwdriver down into the engine and rotate the oil pump a little bit, then try again.

put a new gasket and its sealed now..thanks

:rofl: :rofl: Jody! That's exactly what I was thinking when I first started to read this thread....

I was laughing at the situation thinking -- well -- he didn't really find his vacuum leak.... and then read further.