desser76

so driving a newly purchased 1969 mustang coupe 302 home, just tooling along then all of a sudden no power and the car dies... no loud noise nothing just loss of power and dead. we checked gass and some other simple things but the car just wouldnt start up. its in the shed now and we have finally started to pull it apart. we have found that the distrib is seized up but still sits in its groves. timing belt is fine and the engine sounds like its turning over. when we take the distrib out the gear driving it turns. we dont know why the engine will not start.
could the seized distrib actually stop the engine from running?
we have no clue on this one so any help tring to find the problem or any info is greatly appreciated. so lost right now haha, thanks for any input!
-fred

MonsterBilly

well, seems you have a lot to check. first, in your post above, you have a timing chain not a timing belt. it is not possible to see the timing chain that I know of unless you remove the timing cover behind the water pump. I am not sure what you are referring to when you say timing belt.

when you say you checked the gas, how did you do this? is fuel squirting into the manifold from the carb when you throttle the carb?

did you make sure that you put the dist. back in correctly? did you mark its position when you removed it? is the firing order correct?

Does the distributor have points, or has it been converted to a electronic ignition?

did you remove a spark plug and ground it while turning over the engine to see if it is getting spark?

Are you getting power to the coil?

Are you sure the dist. is ceased up? if you remove the vacuum line off the carb that comes from the distributor and suck on it, does the ignition plate in the distributor move?

please answer these and I will help as much as I can.

thank you

desser76

ok sorry timing chain haha i was in a hurry. we have striped the front of the motor down, waterpump, timing cover, harmonic balancer etc. we can see the timing chain and it is fine. fuel is squirting. marked everything, the firing order is correct, it is definitely ceased up. the stang was on the road running for a little over 2 hours running fine untill it just died. distrib has points they look clean. we have not grounded the sparks yet because the distrib will not turn. not sure about the coil. have not touched the vacuum line at all so i am not sure.

barnett468

what is seized up . . if the engine turns over normally it is not deized up . . if the distributor turns freely when removed, it is not seized up.

need exact accurate details.

push on the timing chain, if it has much play it is too loose, buy a new one . . if it has yellow or brown teeth on it they are plastic so buy a new one.

look at the color of the gas if it is yellow at all the tank has goo or rust in it, do not use it. get it cleaned or buy a new one.

plug your dist vacuum line for now.

hold the distributor shaft firmly with pliers on the top then try to turn the gear . . it may have broken the pin on it.

remove the pos wire from the coil . . connect a jumper wire from the battrery to it for testing . . do not leave it connected for maore than 5 minutes at a time if the engine is not running.

might have bad points, condemser or coil if you have no spark.

might have rust plugging the filter in the tank . . it can get sucked up by the filter while driving and plug the filter . . after the engine stops there is no more suction to hold the rust on the filter so it falls off and the car will run again for a while ...nice huh?
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Gun Jam

Yeah +1 to above.

If the distributor was seized up it would take the cam gear with it...You can't turn the distributor by hand with it installed...It can not be done.

If you crank the engine over by hand or with the key you should see the distributor rotor turn (under the cap)

It actually sounds like you are kind of making a mess of things, parts everywhere. Radiator out, damper wheel off, water pump out, timing cover off, Oil pan gasket screwed up, gasket stuff in the oil now, some water in the oil...I could go on.

Evey thing that you checked by doing the above could have been checked in 5 min with very little wrenching. Its probably just an ignition issue something really simple.

There are lots of ways to do non destructive super time saving troubleshooting methods on these engines.

Most of us dont like doing unnecessary work but if you're having a good time pulling everything apart dont let me stop you

-Gun

desser76

well the engine is going to be torn apart regardless as we are adding new parts like oilpan new gaskets, new waterpump and so on so it was all going to come off anyways. all the fluids are drained. we have pulled the distib. haha im not dumb enough to leave it in the engine and try to manually turn it (although i may be dumb on lots of other **** as i am pretty new to this hobby)... we have taken it out and to my knowledge you should be able to turn the geared bottom by hand. even with the distib in a clamp and a wrench on one end we cannot turn it. however with the distib in the engine everything seems to cycle and turnover but the distib does not move. its deff not a gas problem.
how could you find out what shape the timing chain is in without taking the cover off???
like i posted the work is not unnecessary we are planning on taking it down to swap parts but just cannot find the cause of the problem.

barnett468

your dist gear has a mild steel roll pin atrached to the shaft . . if the dist shaft does not turn in the housing when it is out then the bushings are seized . . if ot also does nit turn with the dust in then the pin holding the gear is broken or the teeth are all gone on the timing chain or the cam is broken and the front should fall off.

if the pin is sheared but the shaft spins in the bushings then your oil pump seized up.



you can see the chain thru the fuel pump hole and turn the engine back and forth until the rotor just starts to turn to see how many degrees of slack it has . . if it is more than around 15 degrees, the chain set should be replaced . . then set number 1 cyl on top dead center to see how close the timing mark is to determined if the chain jumped a gear.
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desser76

ok thanks for the info i will have to look at all of this.. jsut seemed out of place to me idk... it is great having a community like this for support though. i really do appreciate all of the help!!