Terry Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 My pathy is running great but I have another problem with my chevy that I need help with with. Below is the gory details. I have a 1965 Chevy C-10 short bed pick up with a mid 1970 396ci engine, Turbo 400 transmission and an Eaton 12 bolt posi rear end. I started having electrical problems early last spring. The truck ran flawless until one day it just wouldn’t start, I found that I had no spark from the distributor. I checked for continuity from the distributor body to the frame of the truck and I had 12 volts going to the coil as well as a good ground. I replaced the coil (it is actually an HEI distributor so the coil sits on top of the distributor body), cap and rotor but still had no spark.. I took the distributor to a local shop to have it benched tested and it works perfectly, put it back in the truck still no spark. I took the distributor back out of the truck held it in my hand, connected the power plug from my truck and grounded with a jumper cable to the same location it is grounded on the truck and spun the shaft by hand, it has strong spark, put it back in the truck, no spark I replaced the harness that goes from the cap to the base of the distributor and connects to the high energy module inside the distributor, I check the shaft for play, everything is fine. All of a sudden the truck started working perfectly, so I thought I fixed it. Then in August it started acting like it was flooding and was really hard to start, it started back firing and acting really strange and now it won’t start again, no spark. I know that the cam is turning the rotor so it can’t be a broken timing belt and if it was a bad or slipped timing belt I would still get spark, right? I feel that I have to rule the distributor out as a cause but have no idea where else to look. Any suggestions (short of burning the truck) would be much appreciated. Thanks Terry Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 I've heard one other case like this being caused by a shot bronze distributor gear or worn cam driving gear... Other than that, wow. Wierdness. All I can say is K.I.S.S. and try the very simplest things first... I dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted December 20, 2004 Author Share Posted December 20, 2004 Thanks, While I'm not convinced it tis the distributer I'm going to buy a new one just so I can say for sure that thats not it and move on..to what I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 So, you sayd that when you pulled out the distrybutor and used a jumper cable as ground all was good to go so did you check the grounding strap that grounds your motor to the frame ??? Just a thought. Maybe your motor has a bad ground. K.I.S.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 I'm with 88 on this one. The worn teeth could make it skip timming and act funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 I have a good ground from engine to frame, the teeth on the cam and dist are good. I had a dream a couple nights ago and I found that the dist shaft was shorting the power in the dist body so while it was out of the engine no short but as soon as I put it into the engine and the dist gear touched the cam I get a short. I havnt checked it out yet with Christmas and all but I'm going to this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaritimeMan Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 K.I.S.S.= Keep it simple stupid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 My boyfriend is an early Chevy man, and he said your timing chain is bad..or going bad. But he's miffed about the spark. Timing chain would cause the backfire, but the spark is what has him cornfuzzed a bit... short and skinny of it..check the chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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