so i figured it out. so here is how i did it. remove the screw in the middle. lift and turn the shaft so it stays up. use a small punch and out it comes. i placed 2 earth magnets along side so catch it. it's very small and it can end up inside of the engine if your not careful. the gear comes off and you can easily replace the ignitor . then reverse.

any ideas why the engine would suddenly sound like its underwater and go from 2500 to below idle ? i hope replacing the ignitor solves it.

Hi my name is Gene and while i don't own a car i do have a 2002 A15. the engine has the equivalent of 300,000 miles. I have checked your site for years when i need info for my engine . I hope y'all don't mind. It is the powerhouse for a carpet cleaning machine. its been having a strange problem lately that i have not been able to diagnose. it will go from 2500 rpms down to around 500-600 rpms and sound like its under water. it will run for 6-10 hrs a day just fine and somewhere during this time it will have this problem for maybe 5 minutes and then it goes away. i popped off the distributor cap and noticed the center contact for the rotor was completely gone. not sure how it would run at all but it does. i replaced it thinking that was the problem but it wasn't. i have the ignitor module but im not sure how to get it out. Do i push out that small pin to remove that gear ? i appreciate the help as it will probably be one way. Any ideas what would cause the strange problem. IT has the Mitsubishi distributor.
http://s230.photobucket.com/user/Gene ... 0049_zps97810332.jpg.html