Distributor advice for Toyota RAV4 1995

[Lenka]

Hi All,

I am totally clueless and was wondering if anyone can help. I own a secondhand Rav4 1995 model and now the distributor is broken. They machanic said that I will need to pay £654 for a new distributor. Is that realistic? Can I get a cheaper secondhand one somewhere?

Thanks in advance

[paulyv]

Electrical Distributor, or Gearbox Distributor?

[Lenka]

I am not sure. The machanic just said the distributor is not making a spark and that this type of old distributors are not used in cars anymore so I am guessing not electrical? But will call in the morning and ask.

[Lenka]

I was driving and the engine light came up and I could not accelerate or anything. Only the breaks were working. And after the car wouldn't start anymore.

[trickywoo]

Sure you don’t mean alternator?

They can be expensive but £600+ sounds a bit rich.

Auto electrician may be able to do a better price. Either way shopping around is the answer.

[GreenV8S]

Lenka said:

I am totally clueless

You need to find a reliable local mechanic, preferably with experience of fixing problems that predate these newfangled computerised systems.

If you are inexperienced, go with somebody who is more knowledgeable, or at least experienced enough to know when they're being fed a line.

From the mention of 'broken distributor' I would suspect a breakdown in the ignition system leading to a weak spark, but it ought to be straight forward for an experienced mechanic to diagnose such an obvious problem on a car of that age. It's possible that the entire distributor needs replacing, but equally possible that it just needs a new set of points, amplifier, rotor arm, leads etc any of which would be cheap and easy to replace. Obviously you would diagnose the fault and replace the specific part that had failed, and not just throw parts at it.

Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 8th June 23:02

[BricktopST205]

I presume what has happened is the dizzy cap is broken and needs a new one and a new rotor. About £30 in parts. £600 lol