Car not starting...distributor?

[skunkteeth]

My 76 Datsun 280z was running fine. I was driving out of the parking lot and I heard an odd clicking sound...then it stalled. It is getting fuel when cranked(i can smell it). I checked and the coil is sparking to the distributor. I can not see spark getting out of the plug wires, and when cranking the distributor the point moves about 1/2" and then stops turning. Should the distributor be spinning a full 360 degrees when cranking? The cap is new, and the point looks new also.

Also the battery is charged, jumping didnt help. Alternator is new also.

[Arne]

Yes, the distributor shaft needs to spin at half engine speed. Sounds to me as if either the distributor shaft is bad, or perhaps the oil pump drive shaft (which is what drives the distributor) is bad.

Step one - remove the distributor and see if the shaft in the hole where the distributor goes spins while cranking. If it doesn't, you need to drop the oil pump and check the drive shaft.

If it does spin, you've got a bad distributor. Or perhaps a distributor which came loose and not fully bolted down.

[JimmyZ]

One other possibility might be the timing chain died or derailed. Let's hope it hasn't done that.

Does the engine sound normal during cranking... Does it sound like all cylinders are making equal compression? Or are certain cylces "easier" sounding when cranking.

To see if the chain is still engaged right you could always take the valve cover off and crank.

Easier yet open the oil fill hole and have someone else crank and watch the cam rotate. If it doesn't rotate then from what I've read you will have bent some valves. Dunno if Z's hole pistons when the chain fails or not. Let's hope not.

I'd go with Arne's supposition first and count this a remote possibility.

2c

Jim

[skunkteeth]

I am not the person with the 280z at the village, I live at the suites near the gym.

So I found what was wrong.

Pulled the distributor...no problems with it rotating.

Pulled the oil pump and spindle, the oil pump would not turn. I open it up and well lookey there.

I see a little piece of metal, looks like a spring coil. Take the valve and spring out and yep, the spring broke which tore the pump apart.

[beandip]

If this is all the trouble, you have dodged a bullet. When you buy the new pump you might consider a turbo pump. They put out a little more volume.

[skunkteeth]

Oops ignore that first sentence I copied that from another forum where I also posted this.

Are the pumps at blackdragon of good quality? And no negatives to going to a turbo pump?

[m4xwellmurd3r]

Huh. Z oil pumps look weird to me. In old VW's, the oil pump is nothing more than 2 gears that spin to pump oil. dead simple and the only way for them to fail is run the car out of oil .

[biddljj]

I got my Turbo pumps from Arizona Z.

http://www.arizonazcar.com/oilpump.html

zdisease

72 240Z alive in the spring

[beandip]

[quote

Are the pumps at blackdragon of good quality? And no negatives to going to a turbo pump? There are no negatives that I am aware of. I have a ZX engine in my 240 and this engine has about 60K since the build and I haven't had any trouble . I haven't heard of any from anyone. I have right at 25 psi at idle and about 50psi while driving. I am running 10w30. They have a pressure relief valve so the pressure wont go over 70 psi . Even when the engine is cold. I don't know about after market pumps . I have heard that it is common, that the pumps that are rebuilt and sold as turbo pumps are standard pumps. Visually The difference is the amount of teeth on the gear. I went with Nissan.