I popped off the cap
and checked the rotor. It and the shaft spun freely.? No
t good.? I tried reseating the shaft and replacing the cap but the van would no
longer start.? Pulling a wire and trying to start the van showed?that there was
now no spark.?The tines at the end of the distributor were chewed up so I
suspect that the distributor has been internally loose for a while.? Not sure
what is going on inside it but it appears that the shaft is too short.

Thanks to Dennis and others for their advice on this.? I found a shop in Sarasota with Vanagon experience.??The owner?was able to see what my frantic eyes were not?seeing.? The yoke which holds the distributor in place had been over tightened in the past warping the ring and twisting the eyelets which hold the bolt downward against the case lifting the distributor slightly out of the case.? Wear on the tines at the end of the distributor and the heat of the 1200 mile drive combined to cause something which had worked for tens of thousands of miles to suddenly fail.? A new yoke, chrome even, and a new bolt did the trick.? The spacing?between the pinion gear and the distributor tines were checked and found to be within spec.? I put about 20 miles on the van today and all seems well.? Thinking back, there was one hint of future trouble on the drive to Florida.? We had an occasional ignition miss, kind of like Vanagon syndrome.? Now there is nothing abnormal.? Looking forward to the wedding this weekend and an uneventful drive home.? By the way, the van has 176k miles?on it.? It looks good and runs good, now.?

Ed Leiper at Cape Automotive in Sarasota was the mechanical expert.? I found him?on Larry's list?and will add my positive recommendation.??

Tom
'91 Carat
?