I continue to be amazed that a shop that cliamed to specialize in vanagons
charged me $2500 for engine replacement (not including the engine) and sent
the van home without even inspecting the large majority of engine fuel,
ignition, and cooling components. (To be fair, they also replaced p/s rack,
did a/c conversion, starter, clutch, etc.)

As I was looking at the distributor cap and rotor to determine if I need new
one, I saw gunk on the cap...hmmm... what is this?  I see that the plastic
electrical connection on the side of the distributor has cracked plastic, and
someone has coated the thing in goo to keep the pieces in place.

A couple of questions.  Can this be replaced?  It looks from bently (28.29)
like this is the Hall generator connection.  Can a donor part be spliced and
soldiered, or should a new hall generator be procured and  installed?

Also, can I drive it this like it is?  One of the pieces of the plastic
connector is lost, and so the distributor is much less sealed.  Is a good
seal necessary within the distributor itself, or is my only concern that dirt
does not get in to the distributor.

Thanks,
Peter