Originally, I had a leaking inner seal in my distributor so I decided to replace both the inner and outer (o-ring) seal.

I marked the location of the distributor and engine block, did the work on the distributor and all seemed great. I replaced the distributor and it started right up, like a charm.

After the car sat idling for about 5 minutes though, it suddenly shut off. I started it up once more time, and this time it shut off after idling for 3 minutes. (I didn't drive it anywhere while it was doing this - it just sat idling in my driveway).

Anyone have any idea what's going on? I've tried to go back in and adjust the distributor ever so slightly but it's still not starting. It just cranks and cranks until my juice goes low.

Any thoughts/help would be appreciated.

 

How many miles are on the vehicle? Perhaps the wires have become damaged over all of the years of heat.

 

Are you talking about the wires in the distributor itself?

236K. Just changed wires and spark plugs 3 months ago (NGKs).

I don't understand why it would start, then die though. That's bugging me.
I'm just hoping its not a timing issue. From my understanding the distributor's shaft can only go into the crankshaft one way. The only variable is the adjustment on the distributor itself (its position relative to the engine block).

Am I missing something else?

 

Is your firing order correct?

 

Yes. I actually didn't take the wires off the cap at all, so no changes there. Removed the cap, set it aside and pulled the distributor to do my work.

Frustrating.

 

You have 2 options,
1. get another one
2. figure out what's wrong with the one you have


I'm guessing since it's so old it was on it's way to the grave, and by disassembling it you sped up the process.

FYI, same thing happened to me. I bought another dizzy; car fired right up.

Lastly if you can afford an OEM unit get one, if not get aftermarket.

 

Yea. I'm accepting that Option #1 is my best bet.

I've searched for OEM's on eBay but am having a tough time finding them. Any recommended sources?

I'm considering hitting up a pick-n-pull if I can't get one soon. (depends if someone gets to it first.

 

craigslist.

 

Just completed the fix on the distributor. Ended up buying a Beck Arnley dizzy off Amazon for $145 (local store was $300).

Popped it on, lined up the adjustment (eyeball'd it based off old dizzy), and she started right up. Threw the old one in the trash.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

I'm guessing you blew the coil. If you want you can test it for ohms just for ***** and giggles. It's best to keep the old distributor because of the parts inside of it. If the new one desides to fail sooner than it should you can always use the old one for parts.

 

LOL! I KNEW IT!

I will make sure from now on TO NEVER DISASSEMBLE A DIZZY! if the internal seal is leaking, **** it! I will let it leak. Only seal I dare replace is the one on the notch.

I wonder if it's the static from hands that cause a short on the circuitry hence why you should ground yourself?

 

ehh, I thought it was the coil on mine, so I swapped coils and that did nothing.

 

I did replace the inner seal on mines and I can't remember if it's possible to put the rotor shaft back on 180 degrees off inside the distributor.

Just throwing ideas out there.

 

How do you remove the rotor? I can't seem to figure that damn part out

 

You need to put the car in neutral and use a 19mm socket on the crank in COUNTERclockwise motion to turn the crank so that the distributor rotor moves so that the screw that is holding the rotor onto the shaft is accessible.

 

I pulled the dizzy off and looked all around it, there is no screw :/

 

then pull it off