1988 2.0L ignition?

[gungfudan]

Can a 1988 2.0L be converted from a distributor ignition to distributorless ignition?

 

[adsm08]

IIRC you would at least need to replace the head. You would also need a crank sensor, a wiring harness, a computer, and and EDIS4 module, aside from the obvious stuff.

 

[Mark_88]

Yeah, you might as well go fuel injection at that point!

Not hard to do...but it also requires fuel pump(s) and return fuel lines...and you could probably buy a whole truck that is running for the amount of money and time you will spend converting everything over...

I will buy your alternator bracket if you decide to do that...mine is broken and I can't seem to find one for some reason!

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, you might as well go fuel injection at that point!

I think he has to.

 

[gungfudan]

That is to much money I am $2,400 deep and out of cash I am at a loss on what to do. I have shimmed the distributor and still is eating the teeth on the distributor gear. The company that I bought it from will not pay for a mechanic up front because they are saying there is nothing wrongs internally with the engine.

So what do I do?

 

[gungfudan]

Oh by the way this is distributor 10

 

[adsm08]

That is to much money

You didn't think you were just going to pop a coil pack in place of the current coil and plug it in did you?

 

[gungfudan]

Really had no idea why it involved. But one can only hope at this point like I said don't know what to do

 

[adsm08]

If there is no play in the distributor shaft itself I would suspect an issue with the cam gear or the cam moving.

Check the radial play in the dis shaft and if you can't feel it by hand put some prussian blue on the dis gear, install it, and spin the engine by hand a few times and check the contact pattern.

 

[Mark_88]

Oh by the way this is distributor 10

Or, as they say in Canada...EH!

You've been through ten distributors and they are telling you there is nothing wrong????

Almost sounds like the gear on the auxiliary shaft is on backwards...something is obviously wrong...

This is the engine you had rebuilt, correct? Did they remove the auxiliary shaft at any point or just replace parts like pistons and rings?

I remember you were having blow-by problems and that it finally quit on you, but other than your showing the rebuilt engine I don't remember if you specified what was rebuilt.

I'd be all over them at this point...that's outrageous!

 

[gungfudan]

This is a completely different rebuilt engine I have no idea what they did to this one. I am assuming complete rebuild. I replaced an aux shaft already because the one that came in the engine had a chipped tooth.

 

[Mark_88]

The second rebuilt engine and you are having the same problem with chipping distributor teeth?

That is really bizarre Dan. Is there any damage inside the cap like the rotor is binding or running into the contact points? I don't think they are strong enough to cause the teeth to sheer off the gear even if you had a totally wrong rotor/cap setup, but something is definitely binding to cause that on two different engines.

 

[gungfudan]

Did ford make any odd ball 2.0 engines? Is there something I am missing for this thing not to work?

 

[Mark_88]

At one point my distributor on the 2.0 spun itself out. All I had to do was buy another distributor and have someone put the gear on the base (I later learned how to do this) and it was good to go.

When the 2.0 crapped out I simply bought a 2.3 short block and had it installed (had to do the slave so at the time I had someone do it for me).

With this short block (which was Fuel Injected but had the gear for the distributor) I put the distributor from my 2.0 into the 2.3 and it has been running with it ever since (about 60,000 kilometers on it so far in this configuration)...

So...I'd have to say there is something else wrong...not a mismatch, but a problem with the gear or the way the distributor is lining up with it...and considering you have been through 2 different engines...that's why I asked if there was any damage to the rotor or cap...

Other than that...sorry, but I'm out of ideas and truly at a loss to say why you've had this problem...

EDIT: OK...I found this...read post #16...it pertains to high volume oil pumps...did you happen to have them put in a high volume oil pump? Also cast gears are more prone to shredding and if you use brass gears they wear bout but don't necessarily shred teeth...

http://forums.corral.net/forums/5-0-5-8-engine-tech/989666-cam-eating-distributor-gear.html

I simply searched Google for "Ford engine eating distributor gears" and found quite a few hits...haven't read them all but this is a good place to start...and it may or may not pertain to the 2.3...but Ford is, apparently, notorious for having the distributor gear shredded when using a high volume oil pump...or other causes...

EDIT II: Also found this one...the guy figured it out as a ridge inside the engine and when he shimmed the distributor (and other things) he fixed the problem...

http://www.twoguysgarage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5726

You are not alone Dan!