Crazy Distributor Gear Wear

[=Lawrence=]

next time take better pictures, i can't see anything from those.

[DennisTA15]

Originally Posted by Swatrecon_

next time take better pictures, i can't see anything from those.

click on the pics, they get bigger

[DennisTA15]

Originally Posted by gearhed42

Yea it all helps. I just wish there was some way to tell without actually pulling the distributor. It also could be my injectors because im not sure if they were done. But once again there is no way to tell because there is no CEL on or codes set. Both the parts to fix either of hte 2 problems are 300 bucks. And im afraid knowing my luck that ill replace one and it will be the other one and i dont have 600 bucks right now lol

You may try some fuel injector cleaner.

When your gear gets very worn out, it will show a P1345. My gear was pretty worn out and I had no code though.

If it was me then, I would get a stock replacement gear and pull the dizzy. If you have a stock cam, then a stock gear should be fine, get one that is melonized from the dealer if your too worried. If it's worn down, replace it. If it's not, take it back and further diagnose your problem. You might want to post up how to check your fuel injectors, as I don't know how to do that.

[DennisTA15]

You might also check your EGR valve

[gearhed42]

Well im sure youve heard of the poppet vavles sticking and also a lot of times the clips break or one side of them breaks and they leak into the intake causing a misfire either way. They have an updated spider unit where they eliminate the poppet valves and have traditional injectors for each cylinder. Im going to pull the distributor today and if it needs to be done im just going to replace the gear because i cant afford any downtime with the truck and napa says they have it in stock. Ill let you know how it goes....

[gearhed42]

ok so today i pulled the dist. And what i found is the gear had a pretty significant ridge in it. To me it doesnt look normal but at first it was hard to even see becuase the ridge is most of the way into the gear. I have pictures but for some reason i cant attach them? Anyways comparing what i foudn to what ive seen on here i would say that its time to replace the gear. Now the only one that can get the gear is napa so i plugged away on ebay and found a brand new gm dist. for about 125 shipped. Or would it be worth my while to save up for the billet one? To me i dont think it will make a difference on a stock set up but who knows?

[DennisTA15]

As long as your old distributor is ok, the tabs that the cap screw into are good and not broken, then there would be no point in buying another stock distributor. In my case I had a more aggresive cam in and wanted the option to get a gear that was stronger later if this one wore out so soon again. The only way to get a gear made of a different material is to replace the distributor with one that uses the more common gear size. For you I would say to either replace just the gear or get the Accel distributor. Leaning more toward just replacing the gear assuming your old distributor is ok.

To post pics you'll have to post them in a photo sharing website like imageshack or photobucket. After you register there, free, you upload photos or movies to their website. Then get code for posting in forums from there and post the code.

You'll be able to compare a new gear to your old one to see how worn down it is. If you look at mine, the new one has flat tops on all of the teeth, and the old one wore all of that material down to a sharp edge at the top of the teeth. All of this equated to a lot of play in the distributor with the old gear. I have next to no play with the new gear.

[GreaseDog]

Originally Posted by mudbuddy

you guys on here kill me calling it a dizzy gear are you going to start calling tires oreos after all they are both round and black LMAO

Originally Posted by daman1

Never heard of the term either till i joined this site

do neither one of you ever pick up Car Craft, Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, or Chevy High Performance? i know ive seen it several times in each.

[TEE]

I had no start on my 94 and it liked to drove me crazy figuring out the mag was cracked on top..it won't let the rotor pop up.
I beleive I had 130,000 on it.

[gearhed42]

Well i figure rather than purring the new gear on and a few months later the bearings going bad or something who knows i found one on ebay im bidding on now that is at 20 bucks right now wiht 8 bucks shipping. Thats cheaper than the gear! lol so who knows i will post results when i have them! Thanks for you help thus far though dennista15!

[gearhed42]

ok so i got my special order part from autozone. That was my first mistake. Pulled the distributor and pulled the gear off. Went to put on the new gear and the hole for the shaft is WAY to big. I compared the old gear to the new one and they look identical other than the fact that the hole for the shaft is smaller on the factory one. Im going today to fight with autozone to return this special order part that they dont take back most of the time. Im not real sure what to do i really dont have the money to buy the billet unit of even a new factory one....

[DennisTA15]

That's a bummer. Yeah, If you told Autozone the truck you needed the gear for and they special ordered it and it's wrong, then that's their bad. They should refund you for that. I think the gear size should be .467, but don't hold me to that. The more common size gears are .491 and .500. Yeah the gears are the same just the size of the shaft in the distributor, I have no idea why GM did this, and plastic at that. The billet distributor is setup with the .491. You may have to go to the dealer or try NAPA.

edit: I can't see why Autozone wouldn't take that back. I special ordered a radiator for my Dad's 67 Chevelle and it was wrong, go figure. I even waited 4 weeks for it. I returned it with no problem. Then I went next door to Advanced Auto Parts and ordered it there. Waited 3 days, only to get the exact same radiator I returned to Autozone. LOL, same box with my duct tape and everyting. I couldn't believe it. OH well.

[gearhed42]

Yea they took it back no problem. I spent all day trying to find somebody to get me one and get me one by the time i need the truck for work on friday. Napa was a little more money but they promised it for first thing tomorrow morning. I guess cross my fingers its the right one! That is a funny story by the way. The exact same box from two different stores.

[gearhed42]

Ok got everything installed today. The gear from napa was actually right! I marked everything before i took it out. I put it all back together and lined up my marks and she runs but she runs even crappier than before and now theres a check engine light on and absolutely NO BALLS! totally underpowered. So im thinking timing is off. Pulled the plug rotated to tdc yada yada lined up the rotor but where or how do i know where the dist body should be? Is there any way to check timing on a 99. There is no esc to unplug? Now im screwed!

[DennisTA15]

From what I was told here was that timing can only be checked via a scan tool. Not just any scan tool, one that reads camshaft to crankshaft correlation. The home brew method I was told was to set at TDC, or in your case you marked every thing so everything should be close, then turn the distributor a little and start the truck. If the check engine light is still on, turn off (truck) and turn the distributor some more. Repeat until your check engine light is off. When your check engine light isn't on that means it's within spec (which is +/- 2degrees cam to crank correlation. You see the cam sensor is in the distributor, that's why half of the black round part under the rotor has a lip on the bottom of it. When the distributor gear wears out the computer reads the cam in a different position than it really is. You may have to disconnet you battery before you restart your truck to clear the check engine light (not sure though).

Here's a pic of my distributor before I pulled it out. Note: I didn't set mine at TDC before I pulled it. If you line the notch in your crank pulley with the tab on the block then your rotor should either point to #1 cylinder plug wire at the cap or #6 at the cap, depending upon the cycle of the piston.



Sorry I couldn't get back to you earlier (work). I hope this helps some.

[DennisTA15]

I realize all of my rambling may have confused you even more. With the crank at TDC you need to turn you distributor body so the rotor is pointing to #1 wire.

Again my 2nd pic is not at TDC, that's just where is was before I pulled it out. I took pics to get the new distributor as close as I could, because marking the old distributor would have done me no good.

[DennisTA15]

Also you may make sure your wires are in the correct position. I can be very easy to mix two up and it still start and run.

[gearhed42]

Well i dont have it fixed just yet. Im betting on the cam sync to be out. What you called camshaft correlation. Or i should say i am hoping. I never thought of turning the dist body so the rotor points directly at one. That would have made sense. But i used to work in a shop up the street and good thing i stayed close with him so hes letting me use his scan tool tonite. I will post back when i find the solution. He doesnt seem to think that the dist gear caused my misfire but i cant wait for the i told you so moment!

[Pauly]

This thread has a nice L31/30 timing procedure. Its furthur down in the thread.

http://www.monodax.com/forums/tunerc...1345-code.html

peace
PAuly

[DennisTA15]

If the scanner reads cam to crank position or correlation then you should be good. You want that value at 0, meaning your cam is in time with your crank. This value can be + or - 2degrees, spec for the vortec motors, meaning your cam is within + or - 2degrees, at most, of your crank. With the engine running scan this and turn your distributor a little at a time until your good. If your off a lot, like 15 to 20 degrees, then you may have the distributor installed 1 tooth off.

Pauly, good link on the timing.