[CurvyRover]

I finally heard from the mechanic today - YEA! However, my rover started up and ran just fine. The mechanic drove it around for a while - no problem. He started it a few times even, and not a thing seems wrong now - except for the exhaust leak and fluid resevoir sensor light blinking - no big deal really. How can this be? Has anyone else's seemingly "repaired itself"? The mechanic says that this is not a good thing actually and is still going to look at the distributor and is keeping it over-night and will try starting it in the AM - I really hope it acts up then. Can the mass airflow meter or throttle position sensor act up when the temperature changes greatly? And not to mention that the reason that I had it towed to the mechanic in the first place was because it just would not start (again) and I tried a few different times and every day until it got towed (I was praying for a miracle).

I hope that someone will read this tonight and have an idea I can pass on to the mechanic in the morning.

 

[DISCO INCUBUS]

I finally heard from the mechanic today - YEA! However, my rover started up and ran just fine. The mechanic drove it around for a while - no problem. He started it a few times even, and not a thing seems wrong now - except for the exhaust leak and fluid resevoir sensor light blinking - no big deal really. How can this be? Has anyone else's seemingly "repaired itself"? The mechanic says that this is not a good thing actually and is still going to look at the distributor and is keeping it over-night and will try starting it in the AM - I really hope it acts up then. Can the mass airflow meter or throttle position sensor act up when the temperature changes greatly? And not to mention that the reason that I had it towed to the mechanic in the first place was because it just would not start (again) and I tried a few different times and every day until it got towed (I was praying for a miracle).

I hope that someone will read this tonight and have an idea I can pass on to the mechanic in the morning.

What was the truck doing when the no start problems started, totally dead,
clicking, etc..?

 

[CurvyRover]

There's a whole . . .

2 pages of dialogue on what it was doing that I started posting on December 6th. We've gone through 4 or 5 cap and rotors in the last 6 months. Replaced various parts, etc. Toward the end of November I was driving along and it just conked out. I took it to a mechanic and the cap and rotor were all tore up. He replaced them and then it started cutting out and sputtering. The mechanic said it was either the mass air flow meter or the throttle postion sensor, but he didn't have the equipment to check either. Two weeks later it wouldn't start again (the starter was cranking, but no turn over - no light display to give me a clue either) so I had it towed to a different mechanic the Monday before Christmas where it sat until today and then the mechanic gets in it and it starts right up and the sputtering and cutting out have stopped. Because the cap and rotor were messed up last time (the rotor was in two pieces and the inside of the cap look mangled) this mechanic said something about bearings in the distributor wabling (?). This whole situation is just really frustrating.

 

[yieldsign2]

I have a distributor from a 3.5 on ebay right now for 20 bucks..

 

[Muddy Oval]

Is the retainer on the two-piece dizzy shaft broken? It'll make it do exactly what you describe... Most people break it and don't know it because the pull the rotors off to change them, which breaks it- but it will intermittantly work. :confused

 

[DISCO INCUBUS]

Is the retainer on the two-piece dizzy shaft broken? It'll make it do exactly what you describe... Most people break it and don't know it because the pull the rotors off to change them, which breaks it- but it will intermittantly work. :confused

It must be broken if the rotor is hitting the cap and breaking up like that, they
probably pulled like a gorilla and mangled it, i always put a little die-electric
grease on the shaft when i put a new rotor on , they come off nice and easy.

Too bad they could not prove which mech F***** it up ,would make them eat the cost of a new dist,

 

[CurvyRover]

Okay, I'm IMing this all to my husband and he doesn't know what the "retainer on the two-piece dizzy shaft" is. In relation to the rotor where is it?

My husband has done the work on it until he left for Iraq in November. So now I'm trying to figure this out so that I can explain it to the mechanic.

 

[DISCO INCUBUS]

With the cap & rotor off you then need to remove the insulator that is the plastic cover looking thing ,there is a circlip that secures the reluctor that might be
your problem, if the reluctor is not secured on to the shaft the magnetic pulse signal
will be affected causing the symptoms you have been having , stalling, no start, etc..

 

[CurvyRover]

Thank you, I'll pass that on to the mechanic in the morning.

 

[Muddy Oval]

it's a two piece shaft... the retainer that holds the two pieces in alignment is probably what broke. Only way to fix is to replace the WHOLE distributor. Oh, and they don't make it anymore. Mallory makes a nice replacement for about $320.

 

[DISCO INCUBUS]

it's a two piece shaft... the retainer that holds the two pieces in alignment is probably what broke. Only way to fix is to replace the WHOLE distributor. Oh, and they don't make it anymore. Mallory makes a nice replacement for about $320.

That suck's they don't make em anymore.

I have considered getting a mallory myself for some time now, I have seen these two advertised for a rover, 18 Deg adv # MAL-4768902 / 24 Deg adv #
MAL-4768901.

Which one do you think is the best to use ?

 

[DISCO INCUBUS]

Okay, I'm IMing this all to my husband and he doesn't know what the "retainer on the two-piece dizzy shaft" is. In relation to the rotor where is it?

My husband has done the work on it until he left for Iraq in November. So now I'm trying to figure this out so that I can explain it to the mechanic.

Hopes & Prayers for your husband over in the sandbox, everything else is secondary :wave:

 

[nfrey2]

the initial syptoms stated, I had that happen to me about 3 weeks ago in the middle of the Ocala National Forest. Driving down the road and conked out would fire and turn over intermittantly. After a week of trouble shooting it ended up being the distrib. rotor had a high voltage short. Show no continuity with a multimeter but will short with the coil. It was less than a month old, AC Delco.

to test, take the distrib cap off hold the wire coming from the coil with insulated pliers about 1/4" over the rotor and have some one turn it over. if there is a spark its shorting out get a new one.

I had the old lucas one as a spare and it would short out but not with nearly the spark that the AC DElco one did, I ran it like that for a coupla days till i could get a new one. I suspect that that was the reason a new cap coil and rotor had been put on it a month before i bought it. Its been purring like a kitten since.

 

[CurvyRover]

I am so freaking pissed off!!!

Okay, I have to vent and I hope no one gets offended . . .

That stupid ass mechanic had my rover for 4 weeks and drove it around (it went there with about 3/4 tank of gas and came home nearly empty). He said it started and ran just fine - he couldn't really be serious. I finally gave up with the distributor issue when he told me that he looked at it and all there was, was a loose metal something-or-other. It has an exhaust leak (there was a bolt missing on the exhaust manifold and another one broken - now the seal needs to be replaced) and I asked him to look at that on Wednesday, which he didn't do. The only good thing was that I didn't have to pay him anything for my rover sitting there for 4 weeks.

So now I've had it home for about 2 hours because I gave up with this mechanic and I go for a drive. It still sputters. It died on me while sitting in line at the carwash and then was really hard to start again. It isn't quite as bad if I slowly accelerate, but if I try to get into it . . . sputter. And just sitting idle you can hear it miss like it needs a tune up or something.

So this is now my plan. I'm going to buy a new distributor (I need help with this, where from and which one for an '89 RR, 3.9 Liter) and find someone to just swap out the old with new and then I need to buy a gasket/seal for the exhaust manifold (again where . . .) and find someone to replace that. The first mechanic whined about having to bore out the broken bolt - seriously now, my husband breaks bolts all the time and it doesn't seem to be some big issue when he has to bore them out.

Okay, so a little help on where to get these parts and then I'll be off hunting for another mechanic again.

 

[yieldsign2]

Those bolts for the exhaust manifold can be a bitch to drill out, I won't lie. it's not easy to get to. Sounds like your shop is a big problem. iw ouldnt go back to them. good luck.

 

[kdkg]

My 88 RRC was doing something like that.....

Was a line that runs from the distributer to the coil. Not the main line. It was a regular little wire. It was on the right side of the coil.

My systoms, It would die and not restart. It got so bad that it was dying driving down the road and I would coast to a stop and have to go giggle the wire. Crank crank crank, didn't seem like it was getting any fire.

That tiny wire was loose. I took a pair of grips and squeezed the connection some. No problem since then.

The local independent rover shop said, i think, that it was an idle advance?

I can take pictures tomorrow if you want to check it to see if that is the problem.

 

[Rippers]

Damn girl - I think we are driving sister trucks - I wish you lived closer my LR mechanic/close friend would hook you up - wanna tow it to Tampa?

As far as distributors... let me email him this link to this thread and ask him to tell you about the one he put in a buddy's truck. If mine ever goes out again it's what I wouddl put in - BUT I think I may be going diesel

talk soon!

 

[kdkg]

a 6.2 diesel out of my blazer. And you get all the rest of the truck with it...

DId I tell you that it comes with spare heads, fuel rail, intake, and more goodies?

 

[Rippers]

a 6.2 diesel out of my blazer. And you get all the rest of the truck with it...

DId I tell you that it comes with spare heads, fuel rail, intake, and more goodies?

there you go Curvy!

 

[kdkg]

That was meant for you Rippers...