Mind bender (Page 1/1)
weaselbeak JUN 22, 01:17 AM
My 232K Suburban (350) puked, fuel pump. Still a decent puller, we decided to keep it another year or so, therefore put in a few new parts that were original stuff. Went with a timing chain and cam gear, crank position sensor, ignition module. Fuel pump and filter, of course. While installing the module I broke one of the distributor cap hold down ears, they are plastic. Crap. Bought a new distributor on ebay, it is aluminum. Good. All done and it will not run, acts out of time. New dizzy is installed with rotor pointed to exact same lobe as when the old one came out. It cannot be manually timed (1997) except for picking one of eight possibilities. Computer times it. I leave the front timing cover off until I fire it enough to hear it run, because I'm paranoid about such things. Everything is correct. I checked the timing marks and distributor placement many times over. This is nowhere near my first rodeo, so I am stumped. I finally decided out of desperation to try every possible one of the other seven spots to set the dizzy in. 1st try 180* off, timed on number 6, and it took right off. What the hell? Checked and rechecked multiple times. It is timed off number 6. Got my buddies involved, including a couple pro mechanics. Lots of head scratching going on. We buttoned it up and it's fine, but for that timing thing. I am of the opinion that this can only happen with the new cam gear being incorrectly marked. It cannot be installed out of position as it is dowelled. It's not the simple, normal stuff, as I said, I've done this a lot. Unless that gear is marked wrong, I'm at a loss.......
thesameguy JUL 05, 03:13 PM
A friend of mine once told me the only way to install a distributor on the Vortecs is with a TechII or similar scan tool... something about calibrating the position with the computer... you can't just swap them in and have them work right.

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPlYNtNkI9k
jaredmurray88 JUL 05, 08:04 PM
I did one on the brothers 4.3 vortec without a scan tool and didn't have an issue. That was after two other people got done ripping it out, putting it back in, messing with it to no avail too.
goatvenom JUL 12, 11:41 AM
i recently rebuilt a 4.3 vortec i pulled the dist. turned the engine over and if it didn't work i moved it over a tooth till i got it to run, it took the better part of 2 hours but it runs like a beast now,
Cooter JUL 14, 12:43 AM
Did you time the engine with the timing mark on the crank gear and cam gear pointing straight up, or crank gear mark up and cam gear mark down?
weaselbeak JUL 17, 12:46 AM

quote
Originally posted by Cooter:

Did you time the engine with the timing mark on the crank gear and cam gear pointing straight up, or crank gear mark up and cam gear mark down?



I'm nowhere near new at this........
Cooter JUL 17, 03:14 PM

quote
Originally posted by weaselbeak:


I'm nowhere near new at this........



Not saying you are. Just curious. Both up, or facing each other?
weaselbeak JUL 18, 12:38 AM
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[This message has been edited by weaselbeak (edited 07-18-2013).]