When I took my distributor out, the housing was packed with a thick grease. It was grey/silver in color. I haven't found any reference to putting grease in the housing during a rebuild in any of my manuals.

Anybody know what this is and is it recommended?

Bob

Who knows what it originally was, but now it is old, thick and contaminated by the sound of it:surprised

I would advise that you give everything a good de-grease and re-lube with a little general purpose grease.

Be very careful if you separate the moveable and fixed plates, there are tiny ball bearings between them to allow the plates to rotate in relation to each other

Extract from the Haynes Datsun 240/260/280Z Repair Manual, page 76: -

Thank Graeme,

I'm not taking the distributor apart. This grease was actually in the timing chain cover casting where the distributor fits. I agree, it was old, but it was pretty resilent. It didn't come out when I degreased the cover. I wiped it out with a rag.

Thanks again,

Bob

That sounds like sludge,is your engine original?I had my dizzy out the other day and all that's down there is a small puddle of oil.

Be careful when cleaning the sludge . If you dislodge any large particles they can block oil passages. Regular oil changes and a good quality oil should clean this stuff and keep it from building up. This sounds like a engine that has been neglected . Check for a faulty PCV valve. This can cause sludge build up.