Brian here again... BAD News, Distributor broke

[dilfitz]

Well, I was on way to get the catalytic convert removed to see if it was the cause of
the lack of power... got up to about 50 mph and heard a "Pop" and the engine died..

I looked under the truck and the cat was smoking........... Figured maybe it collapsed and plugged up the pipe as I did a quick check of spark and fuel while waitin for the wrecker.

At home, my son and I pulled the Dist cap and cranked it.........

Not Turning......... Another Broken Distributor...........

This happened to me on the way hope from buying it last month. I had to pry the Dist. outta the engine and all the gears were ground off on one side.

But, The dist. "Turned" After I got it out...

$375.00 later, I'm back to ground zero.......

Unemployed, Thank God I made it to my Military retirement....
With very little cash until next month,,,,,,,, I am really upset and confused about what to do.

The engine was rebuilt about four years ago, (have receipt) and the original ol'fella only put another 4k on it before buying a new one and sellin this one off.............

Any Ideas???

Throw in the towel,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and sell the few guns I have left,,, to buy my Sixteen yr old something else??

He's a great kid who's been thru a lot and I want him to have a dependable car.... but..... as I wrote before, after my divorce, I no credit left...........

I can't put another dist. in it and Sell it for $ toward another vehicle KNOWING this will happen again... just not me....

Thanks all....
Brian

 

[Big Jim M]

Yep!

Well, I was on way to get the catalytic convert removed to see if it was the cause of
the lack of power... got up to about 50 mph and heard a "Pop" and the engine died..

I looked under the truck and the cat was smoking........... Figured maybe it collapsed and plugged up the pipe as I did a quick check of spark and fuel while waitin for the wrecker.

At home, my son and I pulled the Dist cap and cranked it.........

Not Turning......... Another Broken Distributor...........

This happened to me on the way hope from buying it last month. I had to pry the Dist. outta the engine and all the gears were ground off on one side.

But, The dist. "Turned" After I got it out...

$375.00 later, I'm back to ground zero.......

Unemployed, Thank God I made it to my Military retirement....
With very little cash until next month,,,,,,,, I am really upset and confused about what to do.

The engine was rebuilt about four years ago, (have receipt) and the original ol'fella only put another 4k on it before buying a new one and sellin this one off.............

Any Ideas???

Throw in the towel,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and sell the few guns I have left,,, to buy my Sixteen yr old something else??

He's a great kid who's been thru a lot and I want him to have a dependable car.... but..... as I wrote before, after my divorce, I no credit left...........

I can't put another dist. in it and Sell it for $ toward another vehicle KNOWING this will happen again... just not me....

Thanks all....
Brian

You ae a good man Brian! I wouldn't do that either.
If the dist gear went away, you may have a problem.. My first chouce would be to shop around the local junk yards and simply replace the entire engine..
What you have now might take a JY dist and go right back to work.. But if that is the second one it is doubtful.
It is truly a can of worms you've opened. There simply ain't no easy way to repair a cam/dist gear happening..
As a side note if the problem was the oil pump you most likely would have broke the drift pin that holds the gear on the dist... that is what it ususally does.
Big JIm

 

[dangerranger83]

I would try for a JY dizzy and go from there. What setup are you running the TFI or Duraspark, I have both types of dizzy's at my house (not there atm at my gf house for a few days while she is sick). The TFI one (may have 2 of them?) was in my truck and worked perfectly, the Duraspark one I have never used but is in good condition.

 

[dilfitz]

Hey, guys...
just doesn't make sense... I'm beat, n beaten down tonight...
I'm gonna pull the dist. tomorrow & will let ya know what I find.......
Thanks for the help / un-selfishness...
brian

 

[Mutant Pony]

When I built the engine in the Mutant pony (the car in my avatar), I used a used pickup tube as a new one wasn't available at the time. I only had a few hours on the new motor when it blew the distributor gear into pieces. When I pulled the oil filter off, there was a long string of silicone in the end of it! That string of silicone was somehow stuck in the pickup, it came dislodged and locked up the pump. I installed a new gear on the distributor, changed the oil and went on my way.
About a month later, I took the car to the silver lake sand dunes. The car was running perfect when it just quit. Put another distributor gear on it, drove it the rest of the day with no problems.
a short time after that, It did it again at home. I put a gear on it and all it did was pop! I pulled the oil pump. The pump was locked up!! I took the pump apart and there was a piece of distributor gear inside it! The pick up had bypass holes incase it were to get plugged. The gear piece just fit through the bypass hole.
I then dissassembled the pickup tube, thoroughly cleaned it, reassembled it and jb welded the bypass holes shut!!
I've never had another gear failure.

 

[dilfitz]

Thanks bro..............

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I had the rotor come loose on mine once and have heard it is a common problem. Hopefully all you need is a cap and rotor. Pull the cap and see if the dizzy turns when you crank on it. That is with the TFI dizzy if you have one make sure the rotor is good and tite.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I had the rotor come loose on mine once and have heard it is a common problem. Hopefully all you need is a cap and rotor. Pull the cap and see if the dizzy turns when you crank on it. That is with the TFI dizzy if you have one make sure the rotor is good and tite.

OOPS sorry reread it my bad. Was the cap and rotor in good condition anyway.

 

[Big Jim M]

Yep!

When I built the engine in the Mutant pony (the car in my avatar), I used a used pickup tube as a new one wasn't available at the time. I only had a few hours on the new motor when it blew the distributor gear into pieces. When I pulled the oil filter off, there was a long string of silicone in the end of it! That string of silicone was somehow stuck in the pickup, it came dislodged and locked up the pump. I installed a new gear on the distributor, changed the oil and went on my way.
About a month later, I took the car to the silver lake sand dunes. The car was running perfect when it just quit. Put another distributor gear on it, drove it the rest of the day with no problems.
a short time after that, It did it again at home. I put a gear on it and all it did was pop! I pulled the oil pump. The pump was locked up!! I took the pump apart and there was a piece of distributor gear inside it! The pick up had bypass holes incase it were to get plugged. The gear piece just fit through the bypass hole.
I then dissassembled the pickup tube, thoroughly cleaned it, reassembled it and jb welded the bypass holes shut!!
I've never had another gear failure.

The very reason to NOT use sillycone when installing gaskets! I have long suspected that might happen to the engine when it tries to eat the "extra" sillycone that gets pushed out the gasket surface...
Big JIm

 

[dangerranger83]

What that shows is to much was used to help seal the gasket, all you need is enough to seal it. Used it to seal my oil pan and had very very little come out the sides. If used properly, you wont have a problem.

 

[dilfitz]

Dangerranger83,
There are no JY dissys around here. I was told by a fella, to get a good jy dizzy and remove the gear, and have a few thousands shaved off it.... as some of these rebuilt engines had a motor dissy drive gear that were off a little,, and can have a slight bend / bind on the dissy makin them lock up....
Could you part with one of your fact type dissys??
Thank you ,,,
Brian

 

[dangerranger83]

Ya I have two in my garage sitting, both worked perfectly a year ago, one was in a slight under the hood fire but still worked perfectly. Both have new TFI modules on them. I have no use for them, both I am more then willing to sell them to ya for $25??? Pm me if you are interested.

 

[dilfitz]

Pulled distrub............. the cam drive gear is wasted now too.....
Not sure what to do on a tight bugjet...
what a bummer...

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Bummer see if you can find a good cheap bone yard engine or donor vehicle with a blown tranny. Check craigs list for 83-85 ranger. Plug and play would be the cheapest be sure and replace all the gaskets and seals before you put the engine in along with oil and fuel pump if your going stock 2.8.

 

[dangerranger83]

Still waiting on the money to show up to ship them out to you. Wonder if a journal for the cam shaft has wollowed out or the cam shaft has wore down to where to much play is involved and making stuff misalign.