wtf happened?! sort of urgent! PLEASE LOOK

[vladasap]

hey guys
this is my DD n as some of you may know i swapped my cobra manifold for a ported eddy rpm...so the swap went ok but i needed to set the timing since the dizzee was out

so i go ahead to do so, i set it to 17 as i had it b4 and rev it to 5K n the car just dies. I try it again, no luck. I kept on trying but nothin. So i started turning the dizzee left n right n upside any way i can think of till it fired up again n ran for a min or two with the tach flyin all over the place n it shut off. I tried to start it again, it cranks but doesnt turn. So i pulled the dizzee out n one of the 3 wires inside is shredded, so i reconnected it n try to set the timing again n start it. Same thing, cranks but doesnt turn...but this is where it gets fun! all of a sudden as im tryin to start it i just hear a loud pop n white smoke from the engine bay. The valve cover breathers and the pcv shot about 15 feet away from the car n it was smoking for quite a few minurtes after from the valve covers n pcv hole in the back of the intake.. so i gave up and towed it home.

What could be the damage here?
Possible blown gaskets here or just a dizzee? Im cluless right now...
How do i get it back on the road??
PLEASE HELP I REALLY NEED THE CAR TO RUN, i have no way of getting around

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

Sounds like you may have had the timing 180° out. It will usually run that way, but it'll run like crap. The items popping out were probably the result of an intake backfire, or something of that nature. I don't see anything else feeding pressure into the crankcase, except for massive blowby. You likely would have been burning quite a bit of oil if that was the case, so you'd probably know about it.

As an aside, you know you have to run either a PCV, or a breather, but not both, correct? Having breathers on the valvecovers with a PCV valve allows unmetered air into the engine via the PCV, and you'll likely run quite lean.

 

[vladasap]

i figured it was an intake backfire, but i was afraid that it wasnt anything more, and that it doesnt blow an intake or a head gasket because of it?
As far as the pcv n the breahters i did NOT have a clue about that. So should i just leave the breathers in n plug up the PCV hole?

I just took the car to a local shop n the guys gonna take a look at it tonight.
I know im gonna have to take care of those 3 wires in the dizzee...now is that a whole new distributor im looking at or can i just fix up the shredded wire?

And lets say i when i do that, basiclly just make sure the timing's correct - get the piston 1 in alignment with the rotor and wire?

should that do the trick?

THANKS for your help

 

[Danman765432]

Set it to TDC or 0 Degrees on the compression stroke and try to put the dizzy in. When I did mine I had it 0 degrees but it was 180 degrees out and I was getting similar effects as you, I just didnt get a backfire.

 

[vladasap]

well im guessing the backfire was the result of me crankin it quite a few times

the guy at the shop said he's gonna align all back up so i hope that does the trick

im sort of concerned about those wires...can i replace just those or the entire dizzee's gotta go?

and is there a temporary fix? maybe take them from a different 5.0 distributor?

 

[cbarr300]

take the dizzy out and set it aside. Take out the number 1 sparkplug (left front if you're looking at it). Put your finger over the plug hole and turn the engine over by hand until you feel a lot of pressure pushing against/past your finger....you can't mistake it. This is the compression stroke. Once you feel the air start to get weaker look at the balancer and you should be close to zero. Turn the engine over til you get on that zero mark. This is TDC on the compression stroke. Put the dizzy in with the #1 terminal towards the #5 runner. The rotor should line up with the #1 terminal on the cap...this is timing set at 0*

as far as the wiring...since the car is at a shop they can change out the PIP sensor on the dizzy. Most places will just sell you a reman. dizzy rather than replace the PIP

 

[vladasap]

what does PIP mean?? (sorry for the noob q but i just dont know this one)

gotcha, thanks guys...im gonna see what the shop says n if its anything unreasonable, im gonna do it myself...

btw how do i turn the engine by hand? anyone know what size socket and will i be able to move it with a "smallish" ratchet or will i need a hefty breaker bar? i,ve seen it done but i've never got my hands on and did it myself

 

[revhead347]

If the tachometer is jumping all over the place, it means the distributer is fried, which is probably why you found a shredded wire inside. The engine WILL NOT run, much less get up to 5000rpms if the distributer is a full 180 degrees out. The backfire in the intake was just from the fuel built up in the intake from cranking too much. Usually it won't break anything, and if it does, it's going to be something in the intake, it won't hurt the head gaskets or the cylinder heads. Go buy a new distributer.

Kurt

 

[vladasap]

revhead347 you just ruined my day and my wallet =(

wow. so no repair?
i saw the magnetic pick up kits on summit and i sort of got excited thinkin i can just replace that and ill be all good to go again...

is the distributor really not salvagable????

 

[revhead347]

You can change the pickup inside the distributer, but it's a pain in the ass because you have to knock out the roll pin, which isn't much fun. Inevitably the bearings are going to fail in the distributer, so most people just use this opportunity to replace the whole thing. I think a rebuilt distributer is like $80-$90 at Advance/Autozone. I don't think it's that expensive.

Kurt

 

[Adam95GT]

what does PIP mean?? (sorry for the noob q but i just dont know this one)

gotcha, thanks guys...im gonna see what the shop says n if its anything unreasonable, im gonna do it myself...

btw how do i turn the engine by hand? anyone know what size socket and will i be able to move it with a "smallish" ratchet or will i need a hefty breaker bar? i,ve seen it done but i've never got my hands on and did it myself

you should be able to turn it over with a 1/2 ratchet on the crank. if it gives you problems pull a plug or 2

 

[vladasap]

i have an MSD pro billet dizzee thats why i didnt want to dish out another ~$300 for a new one n i dont really want to go back to a stocker...but i managed to replace the pick up n get it running n i set the timing to 12 although now i have a pretty bad miss

spark plug #1 is black as a mofo so im assuming all the plugs are shot to shi*. Should replacing the plugs get rid of the miss or could the dizzee still not be a 100%???

btw what do i gap the plugs at?
and should i be running a little more timing? (i feel with my combo i can run 17-18* with 93 octane)
look at the HCI combo in my sig if that will affect the gap n timing

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING SO FAR

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

If you still have your stock distributor, try swapping it in. There's a reason people say MSD stands for Might Suddenly Die.

Your plugs are probably black because they're fouled with gas and carbon. If you can clean them up, you should be able to reuse them. Gap them at .054, and stay under around 18° of timing. There comes a point where too much does you no good, and you could actually lose power.

 

[revhead347]

I've never owned an MSD distributer, but I've heard horror stories from people who have owned them. I would call MSD tech support and ask them what the most common source of problems for that distributer is. If everything else is good in the distributer, you should be able to just change the pickup. Given MSD's reputation for failure, it's almost certainly your problem.

Kurt

 

[vladasap]

i never knew how problematic MSD is...i always saw them as a really reputable company...well i guess you really do learn something new everyday

How would i clean up the plugs? carb cleaner?
Is it worth messing with the cleaning or is it safe to say that new ones are a better choice? afterall they'll only be about $20-30 so no big deal

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

A wire brush could get the plugs clean. I was just figuring it could save you $20-30 versus replacing them.

 

[HISSIN50]

I agree with cleaning the old plugs. If the engine is actually running, they should clean up by themselves anyhow. Once the car is running mint, then swap them for new ones. When doing diagnostics on a car with an issue and where the plugs will be replaced, I shorten the gap just to get it running decently (helps plugs from fouling while you fix it, etc). I'd run a 0.040" gap while you fix it.

Be sure the rotor was indexed to #1 when you installed the dizzy. Otherwise injector timing becomes off (spraying too early or late). This can lead to a lean miss and horrid mileage (the O2's sense the lack of fuel and dial up the injector Pulsewidth to try to accomodate it).

Good luck.

 

[vladasap]

i did face it toward plug #1 so thats no issue

so even though its missing now, u think that if i just drive it like that, it'll clean up on its own and it will overcome the misfire?
....i thought it would n i planned to do so until i saw it was missing pretty bad. The car just doesnt pull at all. It makes noise but doesnt move and the accelaration is all shaky and im gettin little pops from the exhaust...

i just figured its not good to run it while its missing...i feel like that will cause even more build up

BTW isnt this a good time to SEAFOAM this motha**** thru the brake booster?!
will that actually help clean things up a bit ?

 

[HISSIN50]

i did face it toward plug #1 so thats no issue

so even though its missing now, u think that if i just drive it like that, it'll clean up on its own and it will overcome the misfire?
....i thought it would n i planned to do so until i saw it was missing pretty bad. The car just doesnt pull at all. It makes noise but doesnt move and the accelaration is all shaky and im gettin little pops from the exhaust...

i just figured its not good to run it while its missing...i feel like that will cause even more build up

BTW isnt this a good time to SEAFOAM this motha**** thru the brake booster?!
will that actually help clean things up a bit ?

For the cylinders that are firing, the plugs will largely clean themselves after a heat cycle.

If you have a dead-miss, that plug will obviously need to be cleaned or replaced.

It sounds like you might be running on 7 cylinders. I'd figure out which one is not contributing (a cylinder balance test is a quick way to figure it out) and then check/replace that plug, check the wire and check for injector pulsing at the injector plug.

 

[vladasap]

how do i go about checking injector pulse???