I am about to reassemble the distributor of my 1990 740 wagon (no turbo)with B230F engine. The distributor operates horizontally and during operation has engine oil splashed on it. It appears to me that engine oil is free to seep down the shaft, soaking the inner fiber washer with oil and lubricating the interface between the shaft and the oilite bearing it runs in. The shaft seal prevents engine oil from seeping to the rotor side. The rotor side has an oil soaked fiber washer which will never get a new supply of oil(unless the shaft seal leaks). The heavy varnish deposits on the pre-rebuilt distributor shaft are a clear indication that the engine oil lubricating the distributor shaft and its bearing does not circulate unless the oil seal fails and the oil breather is plugged pushing oil past the seal.

My question is what kind of lubricant should be used to lube the rotor side shims and to prelube the oil seal (which must not be run dry).

I am considering using Valvoline durablend moly grease to pre-lube the shaft collar, metal shims, and fiber washer on the rotor side of the baseplate. I thought I would pack the same grease in the back of the oil seal (helps remove heat) before I install it, and grease the gap between the two lips on the Honda seal before installing the shaft. Then I would use 40 weight engine oil to coat the oilite bearing before inserting the shaft. I could even pre-lube the shaft by squirting a little engine oil down the assembled shaft from the engine side prior to adding the engine side shims and dog in order to make sure the shaft and oilite bearing are engine oiled during break-in.

I use Valvoline max oil for my regular oil changes. Because of the lack of circulation, I was thinking that this might be a good place to buy a bottle of full synthetic oil and use it to pre-oil the distributor shaft and bearing, since the full synthetic theoretically will varnish less when it doesn't get circulated.

I am sure many of you are laughing already because of my over-analyzing this, but once I figure this out for best performance, others may wish to lubricate their distributor in the same way.

What have those of you who have rebuilt distributors used to prelube you reassembled distributor?