hey all, i've lurked and used all your collective knowledge for a bit now...this forum is awesome. so now it is time for me to come from under the hood and post.
my 93 22re 2wd pickup stopped running the other day. it fired up, then quit after a few minutes idling. i had it towed down to the shop, found no spark, and after some insights from the forums here i found that my distributor wasn't spinning...timing chain, right? valve cover pulled, timing chain is intact but the drivers guide was busted and there is some definite wear. so i need to replace that. but it doesn't look like it would have caused the truck to not start (i could be wrong). what i did notice was that it looked like the gears for the distributor and cam shaft weren't making solid contact and that there was a shiny spot on the distributor shaft...like the gear had shifted down or something...so the questions i have....
can the distributor gear shift down and be my starting problem?
if yes, then maybe i didn't screw up my valves...any insights here would be awesome...
i am planning on changing the timing chain and such, but will i need to remove the head and go through all of that?
thanks for any help~)

 

Looks like an E-clip or C-clip has come off on the distributor shaft thus allowing it to slide down. I would suspect that the rotor isn't even spinning so no spark. You'll need to get #1 cylinder to top dead center before pulling the distributor out. No you don't have to remove the head to do the timing chain. I did mine this past summer thanks to info from this site.

 

I think the distributor gear is held in place with a "roll pin." They are easy to get (don't forget that it's a metric size) and not hard to install.

But why did it happen? If the distributor seized, breaking the roll pin, you'll need a new distributor. If the roll pin just "fell out," something is definitely wrong with the gear and probably the shaft of the distributor. Did it mung up the gear on the cam? Examine carefully.

 

When you try and turn the motor over by hand, does the rotor in the dizy turn?

 

no, the rotor doesn't spin when i turn the motor over, the gears have moved and lost their connection... i read somewhere in the threads about the roll pin, but couldn't find much info on it. so when i remove the distributor (this evening hopefully), the shaft should rotate by hand pretty easily, right? any other hints on diagnosing a shot distributor? i'll inspect the cam gear carefully... thanks guys~)

 

Yes it should spin freely. Do not remove the distributor until you set #1 to TDC. That way, the timing will be close when you put your distributor back in.

 

Not like it's hard to do with the dizzy out...

 

Dont worry about setting TDC with the broken distributor in place, like snob said it is a very simple process especially with the valve cover off, the distributor has no bearing on the cylinder position. Before you re use the either the distributor drive or driven gears make sure they are both in good condition unless you like doing jobs twice. I looked up new distributors for your rig and it looks like 140 is the going rate for a remanned unit and another 65 for the dist drive gear on the cam. i image a roll pin is about a buck so the choice is clear if the gears are ok fix what u got.

 

sounds good, I won't worry about tdc for this step... I'm hoping I just snapped the roll pin... but I'll find out tonight when I pull the distributor... killgore, where were you finding the remanned distributor (in case I need to order one).

 

I think what ski84 is getting at is that it is a little easier to get the distributor back in correctly if you can see exactly where it is when it comes out. To put the distributor in you need to not just set the crank to TDC, but you have to have the cam on the top of the #1 compression stroke. (the crank goes through TDC twice for each compression stroke). The easiest way to get to the correct TDC is turn it until the rotor is pointing at the #1 plug -- which means you have to do it before it comes out.

Except this won't help stealie because his distributor isn't turning.

Then, because of the helical gear, you have to put the distributor back in with it twisted away from #1. There are marks to line up so it is basically easy, but lots of people end up with the timing off by 27° because they miss by one gear tooth.

 

stealie, i found it on the Oreillys auto parts store website, the cardone brand remanned distributor for a 93 22re was $138. I have a cardone on my 22r it hasnt seen much use yet but it seems to be decent quality.
Scope is right if your dist was good then a sharpie line on the dist to reference position would be easy street, since your not getting that luxury try this.
-put the pin in the cam at 12 o clock and the timing mark on zero, wiggle the number one intake valve rocker and see that the lobe's point is pointing toward the drivers side. At that point it is simple, cyl 1 is at it's peak, int valve is shut, when u stab the dist rotor at 12 o clock helical gear will shift the rotor ccw to about 10 o clock and align with the #1 plug terminal.

 

cam pin is at 12 o clock

timing mark (i painted mine yellow) is on zero

The rocker on the Cyl #1 Intake Valve will be loose, indicating the valve is shut.

When installing Dist. I point the rotor at the top mark then as it is pushed in the rotor will shift to align with the #1 plug wire terminal on the dist cap. it may take a stab or two to get it right, but if it is off, it will be off by a noticable amount.

 

There are marks on the distributor housing and on the cam bearing cap for just this purpose http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...13distribu.pdf (page 25-26). Putting your own marks on the distributor probably doesn't hurt, but you don't need them. Me, I'll just follow the manual.

The "noticeable amount" Killgore Trout is talking about is 27°; there are 13 teeth on the distributor helical gear.

 

I suppose u can use a 3vze manual for a 22re, me ill stick to logic and understanding.

 

Hmmm..... The distributor does not want to come out....

 

Got it, and a couple of teeth are chipped... I guess its time to order a new distributor and start digging into the timing chain.... Thanks again for the assistance/insights.

 

I have a spare OEM dizzy for 22re. PM me and make me an offer if ud like. Part number 19100-35270. 1992-1995 22RE

 

Yea, only go OEM for the Dizzy. Toyotas only like Toyota electronics, IMHO.

My roll pin went on me and left me totally dead in the water. Only time the truck ever needed a tow. I went for a new OEM unit at a decent price from toyotapartszone.com. Luckily it did not chip any teeth on the distributor drive gear on the cam, nor did my cam timing change. I just put it to TDC on the compression stroke moved the crank to 5*, lined up the match marks on the dizzy - making sure the rotor was at 12:00, and stabbed it. The rotor turned to #1 and away I went.

It seems there is a lot more roll pin failures happening as the milage creeps up on these dizzys, However the design is good that when they do break, the roll pin goes and prevents more damage.