89 3.0 auto 4x4.

Long story short, the truck just died while driving. Got it home, checked for spark and found none. Removed dist. cap and turned the engine and dist. not spinning.

Seems pretty obvious that the dist. is broken. I've never changed one before, or even had one break on me so figured I would throw it out to the forum to see if maybe there could possibly be another cause for the dist not spinning.

 

Hopefully just the roll pin inside the dizzy broke. It is designed to be the weak link. If you did not hear crunching gears, then it must be ok.

New dizzy are expensive, but just remember that Toyotas do best with OEM electronics. Now getting it out may be a little bit hard, but I remember just prying it out and it came out fine.

You will need to get the engine back to TDC on the COMPRESSION stroke. Then move the crank 10* BTDC and insert the dizzy. Should be good to go...

 

Was quoted $685 from my toyota dealer.

I will be going in another direction.

 

Toyotapartszone.com

Much cheaper...

 

stupid double post...

 

Amazon sells Richporter replacements for $130 w/ lifetime warranty (if you save your original box). Mine runs fine with it, and it's about 1/2 the price you'll pay for the same item at the auto parts store:
Do note that I actually had to order a 2nd one (Amazon replaced at no cost) -- the first only allowed it to be set to 12* btdc properly installed (I thought I was installing wrong after the 5th or so install intentionally trying to install off a tooth to correct, though I couldn't get it started, and I ultimate caved and took it to my mechanic who confirmed it was right the first time...). The replacement alt from let me move timing all the way back to almost 0* btdc or so... The pickups/electronics tested fine on both.

Other's have had more success with the Richporter's too than with remanufactured (this thread is why I didn't even explore that route): https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...estion-241202/

OEM Toyota is probably best, but too rich for what I'm willing to put into a 20 year old engine I plan to swap.

 

if the timing belt broke, the distributor will not turn. are you sure the belt is ok? any codes??

 

No codes.

I dont believe its the timing belt, the engine sounds normal when cranking. But its something to check, thanks.

 

I had a pin shear years ago.

The hard part was fishing the gear out with a magnet when I pulled the distributor .

The gear fell off.

 

I finally got around to pulling the distributor out today, and found this:



I cant see any metal inside the engine. I'm GUESSING that the shaft moved a little and the gear was only engaging halfway.

Off to order a replacement.

 

So here's where I'm at with this. I ordered a used dist from ebay for $40. Its supposed to be in good working order and is a OEM toyota part from a 90 4Runner. My thinking was I'd rather try a cheap dist first, so if I find there is a problem with the cam or something else I dont ruin a $500+ dollar dist.

My worry is, where are the missing teeth from the broken dist?? Did they make it to the oil pan, or are they laying somewhere waiting to cause more damage? I plan to run a small magnet into the dist housing to see if the are there, and then pour some oil in the housing to maybe push any metal into the pan. Change the oil, install new dist and cross my fingers.

Has anyone seen this kind of thing happen to a distributor?

 

Installed the dist today. Pretty simple job. Only had to adjust it one time, put it in a tooth off. Truck runs great again!

 

Those teeth could be anywhere, but most likely still in that valve cover. I'd pull that asap and try to fish them out. Otherwise, they risk migrating elsewhere in your engine and doing A LOT of damage...

 

not sure on the yota engines, but a lot of engines use bronze distributor gears which are a soft metal. could still cause damage i would assume though. i'd at least do an oil change.

 

I changed the oil, after pouring some into the dist housing to flush anything that was in there to the pan (hopefully). I kinda jiggled the oil drain pan to try and hear if anything solid was in there, but couldnt tell.

Everything seems fine so far. I did figure out what caused all of this.....the shaft the gear is on froze up.

 

It's definitely a heavier metal. Feels like steel. And checked my factory original that had a sensor go out on it with a magnet -- and it's magnetic. So steel -- probably hardened less than the camshaft in the event of this failure, but still...

Why does the camshaft matter? The distributor gears connect to the gears in the front of the drivers side cam:

Connects under the front bearing cap:




The front bearing cap probably still contains most of the bigger shards, as the valves are further back, but oil flows from that front beaing cap to rear over the top of the drivers side head, which means that metal is probably slowly migrating its way across all of the valves before returning to the pan... So my recommendation would be to pull the valve cover and bearing cap(s) and get it cleaned out ASAP, and see if you need to replace the cam should it be damaged -- damage which might also be tearing up the gears on your new distributor. Those metal shards are in that engine somewhere. Lying in wait (or possibly silently, but actively attacking)...