Gang,

This has happened to me before. I put on new O-rings and a baseplate cover on the distributor for my wife's 1993 940. The rotor, when I pulled the baseplate, was pointing at 3:00 o'clock (toward driver's side) and the upper cam key was in ~1:30 or 2:00 o'clock position. I marked the top of the upper cam key with white marker; I marked the background of the baseplate where the upper cam key aligned; I even marked the distributor shaft where the upper cam key came out. When I installed the baseplate, I kept the rotor pointing at 3:00 o'clock and made sure the marked upper cam key was on top. When I tightened the 10 mm clamp hold-down bolts, the baseplate would not pull up against the back of the cylinder head. There is about a 3 mm gap. I had this problem before but that was when I had failed to note the position of the rotor. In the earlier case, somebody said to rotate the key 180 degrees. That worked then. I tried that today, and it was worse--you couldn't even push the baseplate in. You would think that if you align the rotor correctly, the cam key would slide easily into the slot in the back of the camshaft. The engine starts, but is there too much flex on the aluminum backplate of the distributor? What am I doing wrong?

 

Sometimes the O rings are too tight, don't go in easily--I put a little vaseline to get them in.

 

Thanks, Lev. Yeah, I already put some Vaseline on the O-rings.