94 F-150 Distributor

DONUIL

MEMBER
1994 FORD F-150

I have a 1994 Ford F150 with a 351W 5.8L recently installed. The new engine has less than 2500 miles on it but the overall mileage of the vehicle is 183,000.

I was recently returning home from a trip. As I coming to the top of a hill the transmission downshifted, the truck gained rpm and then suddenly died about 30 seconds after the downshift. Once I coasted to a stop I tried to start it agian. It turned over but wouldn't fire up. I check the distributor first thing and notice the rotor not spinning when turning the engine over.

I pulled the distributor out and the gear's teeth is sheared. The distributor was replaced when the new engine was put in. Could the distributor gear been the wrong material (ie. Cast iron instead of steel) or is my problem much more serious?

2 Replies

MIKE H R

MECHANIC
3,094 POSTS

The distributor may not have been not been seated right making the teeth not mesh together right.

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Monday, July 30th, 2007 AT 11:36 AM

INDYUKE

MECHANIC
416 POSTS

Like Justanold says, you could have a siezed oil pump.

You are right, they do make several different types of gear teeth material. The distributor is driven by the cam, and the teeth need to be the same material as the cam or the harder metal will eat the softer metal, as i'm sure you already know.

The basic rule of thumb for that type of engine (the 5.8W) is that the roller cams have steal teeth and so need steal toothed dist gears. The flat tappet cams have cast iron and so need dist gears that are made of cast iron.

Double check your engine is clean of metal debris before running it again.