W116 distributor lubrication

I'll post this question here as well as on w116.org/forum since I have not received a usable reply yet:

I've taken apart the distributor in my '75 450SEL 4.5 and made sure its clean and works well. I would appreciate advice from those who know which parts to lubricate and with what.

Looking through resources on the net, the best procedure seems to be to lightly lubricate both sets of distributor shaft lobes (in upper and lower body) and the plastic riders that run over the lobes (sorry for the lack of proper terminology). Given Bosch distributor cam lube (5700002005) and equivalents from the 1970s are unavailable, the closest I can find is Loctite LB 8423. Will this do?

As for the the little round felt pad in the shaft some say it needs no lubrication, other say to lubricate - but with what?

Do the cam bearings need to be lubed?

Many thanks
Chris

Hi Chris,

welcome to jetronic.org, the website for injection and ignition system of classical cars.

You need something like Bosch Ft1v4 (hot bearing grease) and engine oil. Loctite LB 8423 does not do the job, it is a silicone sealant, not a greasing lube. Look for ignition distributor grease.

Hot bearing grease to be applied to

• governor weight: Axle and nose where it resides on bottom
• Bearing balls of contact plate - where it spins on via vacuum advance/retard
• Greasing felt of ignition contact - massage into it
• Greasing felt of trigger contacts (if D-Jetronic) or directly TC cams

Engine oil to be applied to

1. long term bearing bushing under distributor finger. Remove and you will see a felt inside shaft. Put some drops of oil there

Hi Volker

That's exactly the answer I was looking for. Many thanks for the detailed and quick reply!

Beste Gruesse
Chris

Hi Chris,

how nice to be appraised by a guru