Crazy Distributor Gear Wear

[gearhed42]

how about -34 degrees? lol im trying to process that pauly posted above your post. It doesnt really make sense but im following it step by step. This is turning into a nightmare lol something so simple a timing!

[Brahma Brian]

Originally Posted by 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.

I just did this yesterday, turns out I've been driving my Burban for nearly 5 years with my timing at -6 since I had the stealership do my intake manifold reseal 2 weeks after I bought it...

It runs like a brand new one now, I had no idea what I was missing!!!

Got mine set dead on 0 now and all is well with the world, NOW my tune can actually do something!

Even my exhaust sounds totally different now!

[DennisTA15]

Originally Posted by gearhed42

how about -34 degrees? lol im trying to process that pauly posted above your post. It doesnt really make sense but im following it step by step. This is turning into a nightmare lol something so simple a timing!

Sounds like your off a tooth or two. I had some trouble getting my new distributor in at first. When I put it in, the oil pump drive shaft wouldn't let the distributor settle down in the correct tooth. There is a thing inside the distributor gear that looks like a flathead screwdriver. That fits over a shaft that looks similar to a flathead screw. You may need to get a really long screw driver to turn the oil pump drive shaft a little to get your distributor to settle down in the correct teeth.

Here's a pic of the end of the gear...you can see the flat part that fits over and inside of the oil pump drive shaft.


What I would do is set your crank at TDC. And turn your distributor base as close to this as you can. Note the position of the cap hold down screw to the upper intake manifold bolt.


Then pull your cap and see which cylinder your rotor is pointing to. We want it pointing at #1 cylinder, so if it's to the right or left of #1 cylinder pull the distributor and turn it till it settles onto the intake and pointing at #1 cylinder. Use a very long flathead screw driver to turn the oil pump drive shaft. Fine adjustments are made by turning the whole distributor to get to 0 degrees difference between cam and crank. I don't think you'll be able to turn 34 degrees out.

Hope all of this helps

[gearhed42]

Finally the good news!!! I turned it to TDC of #1 didnt even look at the distributor just pulled it out because i could tell it was off by at least a tooth or more. I lined up the hole in the gear with the paint line on the dist body which if you look at the rotor it is off the mark which just allows for the spiral of the gear. Then when u plop that puppy in there the rotor points directly to the little tab with the #8 marked in it which according to the link thats dead nuts. Threw her all back together and she purred like a kitten. Took a couple key cycles for the check engine light to go out but no big deal. And even better theres no more skip so the gear was DEFINATELY the problem.... who would have thought. Thanks to everybody especially DennisTA15 for the help. The truck is just too damn smart for its own good it feels like! lol Anyways heres the link hope it helps somebody in the future!

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

[DennisTA15]

Good deal, I'm glad you've got it figured out.

Yeah I forgot about the little #8 on there. The #8 was no help for me because Accel stamped it in the wrong place on the rotor.

[GreaseDog]

Originally Posted by gearhed42

Finally the good news!!! I turned it to TDC of #1 didnt even look at the distributor just pulled it out because i could tell it was off by at least a tooth or more. I lined up the hole in the gear with the paint line on the dist body which if you look at the rotor it is off the mark which just allows for the spiral of the gear. Then when u plop that puppy in there the rotor points directly to the little tab with the #8 marked in it which according to the link thats dead nuts. Threw her all back together and she purred like a kitten. Took a couple key cycles for the check engine light to go out but no big deal. And even better theres no more skip so the gear was DEFINATELY the problem.... who would have thought. Thanks to everybody especially DennisTA15 for the help. The truck is just too damn smart for its own good it feels like! lol Anyways heres the link hope it helps somebody in the future!

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

no, you didnt do it right. you need a scanner to do it.

the old fashioned way still works.

[gearhed42]

the old fashion way does not work... but thanks for the contradiction....

[GreaseDog]

i'm not the one contradicting myself. you made no mention of using a scanner, just described old fashioned way of stabbing in a distributor, and the said that it worked. make up your mind.

[gearhed42]

no actually i described a well thought out plan of installing the distributor that someboedy else had done in the link provided. And it did work and no scanner was needed. But thanks for taking no part in helping me.... You came a little late to the party. And i wasnt saying you were contradicting yourself you were contradicting me. But its ok i understand big words are hard for you.

[DennisTA15]

AAhh crap. I finally was able to afford a scanner that could read cam to crank correlation, cam retard. Guess what, my truck was running at -14 degrees. What kills me is after I put the new dizzy in, is that it ran better than before lol. No check engine light either. How crazy is that. I got it set at 0 to -1. It runs even better now. I hope my truck can do better than an all time high of 12.8mpg now lol. I would say that this scanner is a worth while investment now. I was a little unsure spending that much for it and my truck possibly being fine. BTW I got the AutoXray 6000.

Thanx again for all the help on here.

[gearhed42]

How much did that run you? Mine runs so much better now but still not to my liking. With the a/c on it def runs crappy. im trying to make time to go get the cam retard checked.

[Brahma Brian]

Originally Posted by gearhed42

How much did that run you? Mine runs so much better now but still not to my liking. With the a/c on it def runs crappy. im trying to make time to go get the cam retard checked.

It can be had for between 200 and 300 dollars all day long, worth every penny!

I have an older AutoXray scan tool and I love it, but it doesn't allow you to see base timing, so I used the one at my shop...

[DennisTA15]

I got mine off Ebay for $289 plus shipping. That was the cheapest that I could find it for.

[Brahma Brian]

Originally Posted by DennisTA15

I got mine off Ebay for $289 plus shipping. That was the cheapest that I could find it for.

Yeah, you did good, there are a couple that are still in the bidding process around $200 for anyone else interested...

http://search.ebay.com/AutoXray-6000...pZ34QQsbrsrtZd

[DennisTA15]

Look up Arctic Tools, that's where I got mine from. After bidding on one up to $275 and losing, I figured what's $15. I won the auction Sunday and had the scanner Wed. Pretty quick shipping.

http://stores.ebay.com/Arctic-Tools_...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

[PrettyDamBig]

Hello all Unfortunately I know quite bit about this. I think. This is my experience. I have a 1998 K3500 7.4 gen VI. I bought the truck used it was fine for about a year. I was driving it on the freeway and my check engine light came. I made it off the freeway but it had a really bad miss. It was barely running. The code that I pulled said it was a misfire .I did what I think most people do cap, wires, plugs, injectors, pressure regulator. And they did nothing. Then I changed the distributor. The distributor gear was shot the teeth were wore off on one side .the new distributor corrected the problem. I spoke to a mechanic at my local Chevy dealer and what he told me is that the gear is a designed weak spot and is very common wear out. And if that gear did any damage/burs on the gears on the cam that the new distributor would only last about 10,000 miles. The new distributor corrected the problem and after about 7,000 miles I noticed that if I drove on the freeway for long time at higher speeds the check engine light would come on. Again a misfire error but the truck drove fine. And after a couple of days of city driving that the check engine light would turn itself off. Shortly after that I spun a bearing .At that time that motor had 125,000 miles on it. So I bought an engine out of a 2000 wrecked truck when I pulled my old distributor out of the bad motor. The teeth on the distributor gear were paper thin on half and the other half was very close to new. So the mechanic was right. On my new engine I bought a OEM style billet distributor from eBay because the original is made from some type of composite plastic and I thought that if it was bowed that it would cause more pressure on the distributor gear were it made contact with the cam. I’m not sure if this is correct or not. And put a composite gear on it that I got from summit racing because it was suppose to last longer than the original brass gear. Well so far so good I only have a couple of thousand miles on it so I can’t tell you how it came out. I hope my very expense experience helps somebody else before they spent the money I did. I also beef up other systems if you want any more info on what I did contact me. I’ll be happy to tell you. Lloyd