Reply To: Distributor will not move

[Stephen G. & Susan Davis]

I suppose by now you received some advice but just in case, I had this problem years ago on a 1952 Mercury flathead. Fortunately the distributor was in front. I solved it by applications of penetrating oil multiple times at the distributor base for over a week. The oil is better absorbed when the engine is warmed up but not too hot as to be a hazard. You’ll want to apply the oil liberally as some will “burn off” during application. I suspect that in my case the timing had not been set for a long time so the distributor somewhat froze in place.