This is a 4x4 chevy 2500 with a 5.7 in it. Buddy was driving it down the freeway and it lost oil pressure and died at the same time. I pulled the cap off of the distributor and twisted the rotor a little and it spun about 1/2 of an inch. I pulled the distributor thinking it had a broken shaft and the gear was missing half the teeth and the other half are worn down. Any one else seen this before and know what I should do about it.
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1998 Chevy 5.7 Distributor gear gone
- Thread starter mcbadwish
- Start date
crash2
-Oh no I picked a side-
Seen it about 5 times now and have yet to figure out why(each on a different rig). Each one we threw a new dist in and never saw it again.
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
I've only seen this issue on the big blocks, only a couple times at that...which is why I didn't bring up this as a possibility of your issue before...
That said, there is an updated distributor out there that's not made of plastic....and it has an oring to help center the dist housing thru the intake to align the dist. gear teeth to the drive teeth on the cam.......
That said, there is an updated distributor out there that's not made of plastic....and it has an oring to help center the dist housing thru the intake to align the dist. gear teeth to the drive teeth on the cam.......
CHOP SHOP
Well-Known Member
I had it happen on an old 350 sbc.
The dist gear had the teeth worn off of one side and the he teeth on the other side were razor sharp.
The distributor shaft/bearing was pretty sloppy on the gear end.
I had to replace the cam and distributor to make it right again.
The dist gear had the teeth worn off of one side and the he teeth on the other side were razor sharp.
The distributor shaft/bearing was pretty sloppy on the gear end.
I had to replace the cam and distributor to make it right again.
The distributor that was in it already had a steel gear on it and I cant fit my fat head down to the back of the block to see if it hurt the cam or not.
Also I cant find a timing plate how do you time them dern things?
Also I cant find a timing plate how do you time them dern things?
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zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
Not the gear, the whole damn distributor!!!! I might also add that there is a possibility of a distributor bushing having gone south in the old distributor causing the gear wear....The dist gear is softer than the drive teeth on the cam.... To time these properly you need a scanner...Your not actually setting timing---your setting 'cam retard' in degrees...you also need to perform a 'crank variation relearn', also done with a scanner....
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
There is a timing indicator on the timing cover, but it's a bitch to see...it is much like the indicator on a later model TBI 5.7L....
bigdog165511
Well-Known Member
Army some cams set up for cast-iron distance gears and won't work with
Steel gears ?
Steel gears ?
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
Say what??? You mean distributor?? That's such a rare deal anymore....almost never hear of this compatability issue...
Binder
Well-Known Member
I've never heard of this in a OEM application but it's common for aftermarket cams. A cast iron cam like the stock one can use a stock distributor gear but a steel cam needs a bronze dist gear......
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
There's a few apps that pop up regarding this issue when searching for parts at work (older apps), but like I said, It's a rare deal...Not something to worry about with this new of an engine...especially stock.
crash2
-Oh no I picked a side-
Cams are cast but not sure of the makeup of the materails.
Zoediak
Well-Known Member
I have ran across this problem a few times over the years (on different makes models of engines)...
we have replace gears, dists, etc and on some cases it all worked out fine, others it tore through the gears again..
what we eventually found out (after tearing down a few of the engines) was that some oiling passages were blocked/clogged and not allowing proper oiling of the two gears meshing (cam/dist).
without proper oiling they overheat and the result is messed up gears on the dist...
luckily, none of the instances damaged the cam gears to the extent of needing to replace the camshafts.
just my .02 of what I have ran into over the years...
we have replace gears, dists, etc and on some cases it all worked out fine, others it tore through the gears again..
what we eventually found out (after tearing down a few of the engines) was that some oiling passages were blocked/clogged and not allowing proper oiling of the two gears meshing (cam/dist).
without proper oiling they overheat and the result is messed up gears on the dist...
luckily, none of the instances damaged the cam gears to the extent of needing to replace the camshafts.
just my .02 of what I have ran into over the years...
