Late night trip home on a flatbed

paulmcconnon · #1 (**permalink**) 08-24-2006, 11:51 PM

Driving in a spirited manner last night the motor kind of rattled a bit and quit. I would appreciate any guesses as to the cause. It was not hot, and would turn over well, but other than that I don't know much.
Paul

Aussie Mike · #2 (**permalink**) 08-25-2006, 01:08 AM

Pull off the dizzy cap and see if the rotor turns when you crank the motor. Could be a broken distributor gear.

If that's OK look and see if you have fuel, spark and compression. A quick check with a compression tester will tell you the state of each of your cylinders.

Pull a plug and laying it on the rocker cover with the lead connected and crank the motor. You should see a nice blue spark across it.

With the air cleaner off have a look in the top of your carb open the throttle and see if the accelerator pump shooters squirt fuel. (don't crank the engine whilst doing this as I've seen people lose their eybrows to a ball of flame).

Cheers

Tommy · #3 (**permalink**) 08-25-2006, 06:12 AM

I agree with Aussie Mike, but I'd check the carb first just because it's so easy to do.

paulmcconnon · #4 (**permalink**) 08-25-2006, 06:55 AM

Aha!! No dizzy in the dizzy !! I will pull the distributor and see if it is the distributor.
Paul
P.S. Boy would I be screwed without this forum.

paulmcconnon · #5 (**permalink**) 08-25-2006, 07:41 AM

If the timing chain broke did I bend a valve?
Paul

Wayne Maybury · #6 (**permalink**) 08-25-2006, 08:30 AM

I assume from your last reply that your rotor is not turning. Most likely the problem is with the distributor gear. A broken distributor gear should not result in any damage to the valve train. However there could be lots of crap from the broken gear inside the engine that has to be cleaned up.

If the timing chain has jumped a tooth or worse still, broken, you very well may have bent some valves and or push rods. If you think this could be your problem, remove the valve covers and check that all the valve stems (for those valves that are not open) are at exactly the same height. If any of them are down a bit, they are probably bent. If any are up a bit, they are probably broken. Also check all the push rods to make sure none of them are bent.

A compression test will confirm bent or broken valves as the compression on those cylinders will be zero. Be careful craking an engine too much, that has this type of damage as you could make things worse.

Wayne

paulmcconnon · #7 (**permalink**) 08-27-2006, 10:12 AM

Yahoo!! It's a broken distributor gear!!
Paul

mike knight · #8 (**permalink**) 08-27-2006, 11:09 AM

don't you love it when what your hoping to see is exactly what it is. something that wrecks a couple of hours of enjoyment and flattens the wallet a little bit but is within the repair realm of the majority of us garage mechanics.
right now i've developed a rattle in my external fuel pump. i'm thinking its the brushes are worn (way premature with only 500 miles on this pump). i bought the pump used/rebuilt and maybe this is a problem with this particular weldon pump.
did the gear frag? how much tear down is required for you?

mike

dsmith · #9 (**permalink**) 08-28-2006, 10:31 AM

I too went for a flat-bed ride with a bad distributor gear. Check down a ways in the posts "brass distributor gear" and there will be somne advice from forum users that may be of help.