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Besides leaking air into the intake, a bad vacuum advance unit will cause late timing under many operating conditions and will limit total advance at higher speeds on part throttle, all of which will cause loss of power, hotter running temperatures, and reduced throttle response and fuel economy. It could also aggravate "vapor lock" issues in hotter weather.

Ok great..I will get one and replace…do I have to remove the distributor to replace..I have never done that..thank you

Took breaker plate off and it appears springs and everything is in good shape and moves freely…doesn’t move much but I don’t know how much it should move

It doesn't move a lot. If you take anything apart, be sure to put it back EXACTLY as it was.

"Distributor advance" is half that of crankshaft advance (or retard) since the distributor runs at 1/2 crankshaft speed.

The latest Cormorant News Bulletin has an article on distributor service.

Ok…new old stock unit being delivered Wednesday I’ll update thanks!

Was able to get vacuum removed…. I thought the vacuum moved an arm within the distributor attached to vacuum advance….on mine it appears that the vacuum arm is bolted to a adjustable arm that then rotates the actual distributor body? Is that correct? Or a. I missing something? I thought the arm moved and was related to the spring mechanism within the distributor …my first time doing this ….I don’t think this vacuum has ever worked since I’ve owned it I. Early nineties …it is definitely not working…any advice prior to my new unit arriving would be great!!!

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I believe that Packard used both Delco and AutoLite distributors at various times. The AutoLites looked simialr to the Delco, but had an arm that moved the breaker plate. Many Delco applications were set up so that the vacuum unit moved the entire distributor.

Check to see if your distributor still has a metal tag on it with identifying information.

My 1937 120 is an AutoLite, however, it has the "Octane Selector" device that was common on Delco unitsd.


I don't know if an AutoLite distributor would be a direct replacement for a Delco. I suspect it would not.

It is an auto lite but it still looks like the distributor spins to the vacuum…as far as I can tell…as it is now the distributor when installed freely rotates to the left maybe an 1/8 th of a full turn before it stops… I can’t see any arm going into the distributor.?

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As mentioned Packard used both Delco and Autolite ignition systems concurrently. What brand was in a particular car depended on model. Some years Autolite was used on higher end models and others, Delco. Autolite had the advance that did spin the distributor body rather than move the plate on some of the distributors Packard used into the early 50s.

For information on the distributors you can download the Ignition Service Training Manual published in 47 which covers the components in 41-47 ignition systems .

Ok great I assume that’s what I have…thanks for all your info and patience…will update end of week!