Long story short. Son got 96 Grand C hot, blew head gasket. Had head milled, valves, etc. Put head back on lookin good. Distributor was broken, (ears that hold it down broken) so decided to replace dist. Marked old, then removed, marked new in exactly same spot, installed. Never moved engine while dist was out. Now, truck refuses to start and acts like it is out of time. I have pulled dist about 10 times, moving over a gear, one way then the other, checking and still can't get more than a quick, maybe 2 rev start then it dies. I've checked and checked. Any ideas please. This is my other son's jeep who is coming home soon from Iraq, (loaned it to destructo brother), and he wants to trade his Hum V for his Jeep. By the way it ran before head was pulled.

 

Definately sounds like a timing problem. However, the problem may not be at the distributor but in the timing chain. If it got hot enough to distroy the head and somehow screw up the distributor, it may have gotten hot enough to jump time. It would be best to first check the timing chain or replace it if the engine has high miledge (they're not that expensive anyway). Once you're sure that the engine is in time (the camshaft to the crank) then you can static time the engine. Find top dead center on the #1 piston and set the distributor from there. Top dead center is when the #1 piston is at the top and both valves are closed (the compression stroke). The timing mark will be on "0." Don't just set the mark to "0," make sure that both valves are closed or you can be 180 degrees off. Make sure you have the firing order correct (it is cast into the intake manifold) and that you know the rotation of the distributor. If memory serves...it is clockwise. You should be able to get the info from a haynes or chilton's manual.

Now for the really bad news......if all the timing checks out, you most likely have pushrods which are now too long since you had the head milled and the valves are not closing all the way. They may close all the way when the engine is not running and the lifters are not pumped up with oil but when they are pumped up may not be letting the valves close all the way. This problem isn't really too hard to fix...in fact you may be able to shim up the rockers or purchase new pushrods. Call the company that did the heads and find out how much they milled off the surface. That exact amount should be removed from the total length of the push rods or added to the pedistals for the rockers.

Hope this helps and didn't just give you a bigger headache!

Brian

 

Thanks for your informative reply Brian!
I finally found the problem. After going over and over in my mind what I had done, and setting and re-setting the timing, a cog left, a cog right, I decided to check some other avenues. Eureka.....the coil was cracked, put on a new one, reset the timing TDC #1, rotor on #1, turn the key and she purrs like a kitten!
Lost 2 weekends second guessing what I knew all along I had done correctly the first time.
Thanks again!
Larry