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Super C won't start

S

Smith1000

Member
It was cooking right along and lost power fairly rapidly. Seemed to really struggle, but did not miss. I shut it off and now it will not start. There is no spark at the plug wires, so I pulled the distributor cap off. Turned it over again and noticed the rotor does not turn.

Is there a gear that breaks that can be replaced fairly easily? I haven"t pulled the distributor off yet. Was wondering if anyone knows what I"ll have to do to fix it.
 
I would pull the valve cover then crank over the engine and see if all the valves are opening and closing. If they're not moving you may have a broken camshaft or cam gear. Run a compression test on all the cylinders. If this checks out ok pull the distributor and see if the gear on the distributor has failed. Spin the engine over and see if you have oil pressure on your gauge. If there's oil pressure I don't think there would be any cam or camgear problem. Hal
 
First thing, make sure the rotor is completely in place so that it should be turning. Next step, I'd pull the distributor off (whole thing including the 2:1 drive adapter). You can then see if the distributor drive turns when you crank the engine and if the rotor turns when you turn the distributor input.

It is not unheard of for a gear in the timing gear train to loose some teeth.
 
Pull the sparkplug near the radiator and hold your thumb over the plug hole while a helper spins over the engine with the starter to see if there's any compression. If there's no compression I think your camgear failed. Also while spinning the engine see if the hydraulics
move. They're all connected to the cam gear. Hal
 
with the engine being heavily pulled down, it
sounds like your hydraulic pump failed/seized
or was in an extreme over pressure condition.
The pumps smaller gear would be stronger and
it could have broken something.
 
Your manual should give you the instructions as to what needs to be removed to reach the camgear.
A few items will be the hood, grille, radiator
to name a few. If the camshaft needs to be removed you need to remove the valve cover, valve levers and shaft assembly, push rods, oil pan and oil pump. Shove the tappets up into their bores to clear the cam lobes. Sort out the parts as they're removed. Use cardboard boxes and write on them what they contain. Don't throw everything into a pile. Take pictures and some video. You'll be glad you did. If the cam gear is stripped pull the camshaft and have it pressed off and a new gear pressed on. Hal
PS: Drain the radiator and oil pan.
 
Thanks for the information. I tried to turn the rotor by hand and it would not turn. It feels like the teeth are engaged. I then turned the engine over again and the rotor did not spin. I pressed on the rotor when turning it over and it engaged and began to spin, but would not continue to spin. It would release and stop. As I turned it over, I operated the hydraulic lift and it seems to work fine. Haven"t checked the compression yet.
 
(quoted from post at 22:09:13 06/18/12) I pressed on the rotor when turning it over and it engaged and began to spin, but would not continue to spin. It would release and stop.
Click to expand...
99.44% chance your trouble is in the distributor. Don't waste your time looking elsewhere. Do what I said in my first post. No matter where the problem is, you're going to have to pull the distributor to fix it anyway.
 
Just pull the dist. The 2 little gears inside are worn out. Put a grease fitting in the side so you can give it a shot in a year or two.
 
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