ADVNTURR
I worry when rattles stop
- Location
- Cleveland, OH
Background:
A quick bit of background. I have a 91 4.0 with a rebuilt motor that has about 105k on the rebuild (205k on the chassis) and about a month ago I had it looked at because of some noises it was making. It was suggested that I replace the distributor. I did so and about 17 miles later I was stranded in a parking lot with a Jeep that died while running and would not restart. Checked a bunch of stuff, posted questions on here, and eventually replaced the coil because it was cracked and it started. Two days later I drove it to the movies, came out and it wouldn't start again. Had it towed back to my place and started fiddling with it and magically it started again. I drove it around trying to get it to die again since I was supposed to go wheeling in NH the next day and eventually it died on me again while running. A friend and I screwed with it for an hour or so with a Chilton and Haynes manual and 2 ohmmeters and decided that the CPS looked like a good culprit. Replaced the CPS and it started. Next day on the way to NH, about 70 miles from home it died at 70mph on the interstate. Pulled over and it started right back up, continued on and had it die on me twice on the trail but restarted both times. Drove it all the way back from NH and around town some and then parked it for about 2 weeks until I could get some time to change the oil. Yesterday I finally had time to change the oil so I loaded up to head to a friend's place and it wouldn't start.
Question:
Since several people have suspected the distributor as being the culprit I called up Advance Auto and said that I wanted to replace the distributor I bought from them because I believed it to be faulty, after a little discussion they said I needed to bring it in and they would replace it. Today I got ready to take the distributor out to have it replaced and just to make my life easier I manually cranked the engine over to TDC. I pulled the distributor cap off, and much to my surprise, the rotor was now ALMOST 180deg OFF!?!? I haven't touched the distributor since I installed it and it actually looked to be a little less than 180deg, maybe 170-175deg off. Has anyone ever seen the rotor housing of the distributor change position on its own before?? I cranked the engine by hand another full rotation watching the rotor just to verify that it was actually moving and it ended up back where it had started after making 1 rotation. I'm guessing that whatever caused it to get off is probably what is making it not run, so hopefully it is the distributor and not something down in the motor.
A quick bit of background. I have a 91 4.0 with a rebuilt motor that has about 105k on the rebuild (205k on the chassis) and about a month ago I had it looked at because of some noises it was making. It was suggested that I replace the distributor. I did so and about 17 miles later I was stranded in a parking lot with a Jeep that died while running and would not restart. Checked a bunch of stuff, posted questions on here, and eventually replaced the coil because it was cracked and it started. Two days later I drove it to the movies, came out and it wouldn't start again. Had it towed back to my place and started fiddling with it and magically it started again. I drove it around trying to get it to die again since I was supposed to go wheeling in NH the next day and eventually it died on me again while running. A friend and I screwed with it for an hour or so with a Chilton and Haynes manual and 2 ohmmeters and decided that the CPS looked like a good culprit. Replaced the CPS and it started. Next day on the way to NH, about 70 miles from home it died at 70mph on the interstate. Pulled over and it started right back up, continued on and had it die on me twice on the trail but restarted both times. Drove it all the way back from NH and around town some and then parked it for about 2 weeks until I could get some time to change the oil. Yesterday I finally had time to change the oil so I loaded up to head to a friend's place and it wouldn't start.
Question:
Since several people have suspected the distributor as being the culprit I called up Advance Auto and said that I wanted to replace the distributor I bought from them because I believed it to be faulty, after a little discussion they said I needed to bring it in and they would replace it. Today I got ready to take the distributor out to have it replaced and just to make my life easier I manually cranked the engine over to TDC. I pulled the distributor cap off, and much to my surprise, the rotor was now ALMOST 180deg OFF!?!? I haven't touched the distributor since I installed it and it actually looked to be a little less than 180deg, maybe 170-175deg off. Has anyone ever seen the rotor housing of the distributor change position on its own before?? I cranked the engine by hand another full rotation watching the rotor just to verify that it was actually moving and it ended up back where it had started after making 1 rotation. I'm guessing that whatever caused it to get off is probably what is making it not run, so hopefully it is the distributor and not something down in the motor.
