[BEECHFRONT]

Tyring to figure out what would cause this to happen.

Took the car for a spin got on it a bit I was manually shifting and all of a sudden I heard a bang kinda like I threw a rod and the car shut down.

I pulled over popped the hood and I saw that the coil wire came off the coil. After closer inspection I saw that the distributor had turned clockwise quite a bit and ripped a few boots from the wires and one of the cap clips unclipped. I pulled the cap and found the the bolt from one side of the rotor just sitting there on top of the rotr and the othe one was loose.

I then turned it over a few times to see what was going on and the distributor did not spin, if I held down the rotor with some pressure then it spun.

I towed it home and pulled the distributor and some of the gears are missing.



Besides what might have cause this will I have to tear the motor down and clean it?
Do you think it may have messed up the cam gear? It is a lunati HR with everwear gear

thanks
Bill

 

[Dave427]

Sounds like something got in the oil pump and stopped everything.

Dave

 

[Tom Mobley]

is the shaft free in the distributor? almost sounds like the shaft was trying to lock up. Keep in mind something caused the housing to spin.

The loose rotor screw get bound up and spin the housing?

What gear on the distributor?

See if you can reach down in the hole with a big screwdriver and turn the oil pump.

 

[BEECHFRONT]

yes the distributor shaft spins freely and is fine, it is only 6 months old msd e-curve
the rotor screw was still sitting ontop of rotor and fell out after I removed cap.

I will try to check the oil pump later today and report back

 

[steelcomp]

Something caused the dist. to turn. It sounds like the gear broke because something in the dist. locked up.

 

[BEECHFRONT]

One thing I do know is the distributor bolt was not real tight you could still spin the distributor with some force.

 

[Wolfplace]

As stated something tried to lock up
First choice is the oil pump, second is the dist shaft

Also being a roller check that the thrust button is still there
If the cam moves forward bad things happen

 

[BEECHFRONT]

okay, checked the dizzy spins fine no binding or play,oil pump turns fine, could a loose rotor with one screw just laying in it cause it to backfire and do what it did?

 

[BEECHFRONT]

Ok just check a few more things, the square and round plastic locating pins on bottom of rotor that go into the metal plate were broken off rotor, one was missing the other one stuck in hole,the rotor also had some gashes and broken pieces on outside, also inside cap has some nicks an gashes in the plastic.

To me it looks like the rotor was loose knock some pieces off inside and bound up the distributor some how and caused this problem, does it sound possible?




Biggest thing is do I have to dissasemble anything before I put this back together?

 

[BEECHFRONT]

Mike, I will also check the cam button to be safe

thanks
Bill

 

[steelcomp]

okay, checked the dizzy spins fine no binding or play,oil pump turns fine, could a loose rotor with one screw just laying in it cause it to backfire and do what it did?

What does the inside of the cap look like? If the rotor and cap got tangled up with a loose screw, there would be some serious damage if it caused a broken gear. Me thinks there's more going on here...

 

[steelcomp]

Ok just check a few more things, the square and round plastic locating pins on bottom of rotor that go into the metal plate were broken off rotor, one was missing the other one stuck in hole,the rotor also had some gashes and broken pieces on outside, also inside cap has some nicks an gashes in the plastic.

To me it looks like the rotor was loose knock some pieces off inside and bound up the distributor some how and caused this problem, does it sound possible?



Biggest thing is do I have to dissasemble anything before I put this back together?

Didn't see this post...yes, it sounds like maybe you found the trouble. Problem is, now you have broken dist. gear pieces in your oil pan. Not a good thing. At very least, you might want to inspect the cam gear closely.

 

[Wolfplace]

Ok just check a few more things, the square and round plastic locating pins on bottom of rotor that go into the metal plate were broken off rotor, one was missing the other one stuck in hole,the rotor also had some gashes and broken pieces on outside, also inside cap has some nicks an gashes in the plastic.

To me it looks like the rotor was loose knock some pieces off inside and bound up the distributor some how and caused this problem, does it sound possible?




Biggest thing is do I have to dissasemble anything before I put this back together?

It is possible that the shock from the dist trying to lock up busted the gear
If the oil pump spins free when priming
And the cam cannot be moved front to rear
And the drive gear still looks good
And the distributor spins free with no binding
And you know where all the gear parts are

I would change the gear & give it a shot :thumbsup:

 

[Tom Mobley]

Yes, inspect the cam gear closely, use a good flashlight and bump the engine over at least 2 full turns to see the whole gear.

The teeth and associated shrapnel are somewhere, probably in the pan. Do you have a blocked oil filter bypass? If you don't this would be a good time to install one before the junk from the broken gear gets in the bearings. That would mean before the the engine is started again. You can modify your own or buy one off Summit or similar.

Similar to Scott, I'm having a little trouble thinking the rotor problems caused the broken gear and the rotor and cap are still in one piece. They're just plastic, seems like they would be in a million pieces before the gear broke.

If you pull the oil drain plug you can reach into the pan with a pocket magnet and try to drag the broken gear pieces out. Save the pieces and see if they add up to what is missing off the gear. If they don't it's your decision whether to pull the engine and clean it out. If any loose pieces get into the pump they will lock the pump and you're back here again.

 

[BEECHFRONT]

Tom, I have the blocked bypass, The rotor has some broken pieces missing and im thinking that some of the impact was taken by the distributor spinning about 90 degrees clockwise

and the msd cap and rotor seems to be some pretty thick and tough stuff, not like the over counter stuff I have gotten before for stock dizzy


Thanks for all the replies makes me feel a little better

Bill

 

[BEECHFRONT]

Would having a windage tray prevent the pieces from falling into the pan?

I drained oil and found a few pieces in the pan with magnet.
There are still a few pieces missing,

Would it be ok to put a big magnet under pan a run idleing for a while and try to get more pieces? or should i just pull the motor and take off the pan?

 

[70SSOBSESSION]

Would having a windage tray prevent the pieces from falling into the pan?

I drained oil and found a few pieces in the pan with magnet.
There are still a few pieces missing,

Would it be ok to put a big magnet under pan a run idleing for a while and try to get more pieces? or should i just pull the motor and take off the pan?

If it were me I would pull it apart and clean everything just to be safe. It is alot of work but if you score a cylinder wall or something you will have the expence of remachining it. Right now it will only cost you gaskets.:thumbsup:

Also if you pull the engine make sure you pull the pan before you flip it over. Pulling it apart will allow you to inspect the cam, timing chain, thrust button and oil pump properly.

 

[Tom Mobley]

It's sort of up to you. The windage might catch some of the stuff, but I think it would fall off sooner or later.

What you do is sort of a toss-up. If it's an expensive built-up engine or an original matching numbers deal I'd be real tempted to pull it and clean it out. Like Chris said, don't turn it upside down until the pan and tray are off. Otherwise I might be tempted to do the magnet thing, clean it out through the drain plug hole, leave a couple of the strongest magnets you can find on the bottom of the pan. Put then where you can reach the location with another magnet through the drain plug.

How id the wear on the remaining pieces of the gear? Is it worn away to razor sharp teeth or do the teeth look OK?

 

[Rich-L79]

If the distributor spins okay and the oil pump spins okay, you still need to determine exactly why the distributor gear broke. I'd venture a guess something got between the distributor gear and the cam gear. Did your distributor have the correct kind of gear on it given what kind of cam you have? The materials need to be matched properly or the distributor gear will wear very prematurely and thus might break a tooth which could lead to just such damage.

If the distributor gear is the correct kind for your application, you either had some kind debris get in the gears or the oil pump swallowed some kind of debris. Pulling the engine and dropping the pan is pretty much a requirement at this point I would think.

 

[BEECHFRONT]

The wear on remaing gears look fine, the missing ones just sheared off clean 2 full ones and 1 half, the cam gear looks fine.

This is a newer build 496 stroker

Rich, the dist gear is stock msd gear and cam is voodoo hr with everwear gear,after close inspection im pretty sure the rotor was loose and binded with the cap and spun the dist 90 degrees,(dist was not super tight) ripped some plug boots off, the msd cap and rotor are made from rynite that is some prett tuff stuff only took chunks out of rotor and cap, a regualr cap and rotor would have been destroyed

I was only 1/4 mile down the road from my house to go on a ride and it went boom and stalled right away