Hey all, Got myself in a jam...literally. Replaced all the gaskets on the timing cover and new water pump. Did not take the oil pump apart at all, or turn the crank during the entire time. Put it all back together and got #1 set back to TDC, but I needed to pull the distributor and reclock, and match the oil pump tab. I couldn't get the distributor out. Spun it over 360 degrees back to TDC and the distributor came out finally. But now I can't turn the oil pump drive shaft. It's stuck hard. What did I do wrong? Never had this happen before. Sounds like two issues...distributor gear and cam gear are too tight together now (timing cover not where it was before), and something is wrong with the oil pump or shaft. Thanks.
How is the timing cover not in the same place? There are locating dowels If the oil pump is stuck, how were you able to spin the engine over with the distributor in place?
Two head-scratching questions that I already asked myself. That's why I'm here... I can't set the distributor back in the right place because the pump shaft is stuck. That tells me that maybe something was grinding itself to pieces as I was bumping it over.
Ouch!!! Maybe dist wasn't located in oil pump when it was bolted down tight and turned the eng over? That would probably cause some unwanted binding.
If it were mine, I'd drop the oil filter housing and check those gears. If you can get the distributor in like you want, then push the gears up and make sure they mesh with the pump without odd things happening. If it held good oil pressure before, just taking it apart and putting it back together with the same parts shouldn't be an issue.
That was gonna be my next step I guess. And I can't guarantee the dist was fully seated when I put it all back together... it was a very long 11 hour day at that point.
So just to get this straight, you took a large screwdriver and attempted to turn the oil pump drive with it?
Yes... and the rotor was turning as I was bumping it over... at least that's what my buddy said. I couldn't see it. It cranked just fine... no noises, no lugging... just no fire because I had turned the distributor gear from where it was supposed to stay while we shoveled 50 years of crud off the engine. When I tried turning the pump shaft to get the dist to drop where it's supposed to, it didn't turn. I stopped there before I threw my ratchet thru the wall.
Well... the car is at a buddys. He just said the pump shaft turned. A "little sticky" but it turned. I'm not familiar with the oil pump\filter assembly. I did take the big bolt with the spring attached to it out and put it back in. Could I have messed that up somehow? Did I not get the spring inside the cup it fits into? Would that jam things up?
Thats the relief spring and no, it won't mess anything up. The oil pump shaft doesn't spin effortlessly. It does have, for lack of better words, uneven drag on it. You'll feel harder to turn spots when you turn it with a screwdriver. That's normal.
Thanks CJ. The reason I freaked is because it didn't turn at all. When I've had this dist out to line things up in the past, it turned effortlessly. And the fact I couldn't get the distributor out tells me the shaft was stuck, not allowing the dist gear to rotate off the cam gear as I tried to pull it out. I had to spin the engine to get it out. I've never run into that before.
That's the plan. I suspect some gasket material and\or RTV fell into the ports or something while I was scraping it off and jammed it up. It's not anything with the cover. I have a new gasket for the filter assembly.
So giving it another shot... Can't turn the pump shaft from above. Solid. If I loosen the filter housing bolts it'll turn freely. There's a plate about 3/16" thick between the cover and the filter assy. along with that thin gasket. Like I said, the shaft turned freely by hand before I checked the bolts in the filter housing and they weren't loose, and didn't tighten. I can't get the housing off anyway. All I see are five 3/8" bolts, unless there's a hidden fastener somewhere.
Should be a gasket on both sides of the booster plate. if you leave one off you will have no clearance. Also bolts are a little longer than stock too.
Right... there's gaskets on both sides. At least there was before I ripped it apart. Something must be warped because if I put any torque on the bolts, it locks up the pump gears solid. It's all getting replaced now anyways.
