Tried to Start my Truck Today...

[Nailhead]

Jon, nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the oil pump when I had it out, and I primed it when I reinstalled it. I checked the oil level before trying to start it-- just below the upper line on the dipstick. The gear on the pump looked serviceable, and the drive gear on the crankshaft is a replacement with a moderately worn set of teeth. Not really all that much to go wrong in that area, I wouldn't think; its pretty simple.

PPM, 180 out came to mind (no patronizing here-- I'm no expert at distributors & timing), but I took my time at static timing, and the distributor will only index the oil pump one way. On my list, though. As for bugs, we don't have mud daubers here (that I've seen), and the truck was running in mid-October, pretty much past when wasps build nests. As for the oil pressure, I have no idea what's going on there, but there was oil in the pump when I removed it, which suggests to me it's working. I've had trouble with these SW gauges not reading at odd times, so maybe that's it.

Kwai, I'm thinking that's the explanation here-- the distributor must be 180 deg out, but like I say, I thought went to great pains to avoid that, reading & rereading the procedure in the TM, and double-checking my work.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Between being dejected at this latest development and the flu, I'm just now getting back to this train wreck. I think I'll take the valve cover off this weekend & check to see that things are okay under there (at the very least to see if my $50 brand-new valve cover gasket is intact).

[Nailhead]

The day of the Great Reveal:

A piece of the cover I hadn’t seen before-



Yessss— the gasket survived!



The cover, as we know, did not:



And, in the spirit of Geraldo Rivera and Al Capone’s vault...



...nothing.

No problems that I can see: all valves present, the cam is intact, no cracks or breakage that I can see.

The mystery persists.

I’ll cover this with a contractor’s bag and several old towels, and recover my old valve cover next weekend. I rediscovered the pic I took of the distributor before disassembly, so I’ll get that reset and hopefully this can run in a week and a half or so.

[Nailhead]

Tucked in until the week after next.

[jeepdan]

Thanks for the pictures.
I'm so glad that there wasn't a mechanical failure. I still can't wrap my head around the crankcase getting an explosive mixture to cause a rupture of the valve cover like that.
Does the oil smell like gasoline?

[brute4c]

Boy that is more of a head scratcher now than it was before....

[Nailhead]

Boy that is more of a head scratcher now than it was before....

Here's my theory, Jon (probably worth the pixels it's printed on): I think the ignition wires arced to the wire holders on the cover retainer brackets, which in turn arced from the cover to ground somewhere inside, igniting fumes from the gassy oil Dan and I conjectured at.

This is totally shooting from the hip, throwing a dart, whatever cliche you like, and has almost no basis in fact or evidence. Still, something has to explain such an oddball occurrence.

[kwai]

If you have gassy oil, the problem is usually a bad fuel pump.

[Von]

This is totally shooting from the hip, throwing a dart, whatever cliche you like, and has almost no basis in fact or evidence. Still, something has to explain such an oddball occurrence.

As good a theory as any, I'd run with it.

Glad it wasn't parts flying around. I'm always getting onto the boys because whenever one of them has vehicle problems they immediately assume the worst possible scenario. And that's exactly what I did.

Might not hurt to change the oil.

[Nailhead]

Thanks for the pictures.
I'm so glad that there wasn't a mechanical failure. I still can't wrap my head around the crankcase getting an explosive mixture to cause a rupture of the valve cover like that.
Does the oil smell like gasoline?

Thanks Dan. I didn't check, but I'm sure it reeks of gas: I used it quite a few times because the morning had been cold and the engine would almost run. Looking back, not a good choice.

[Nailhead]

Over this past weekend, it dawned on me that if I can get the 715 running, I could use it to bring the camper to the house from my buddy’s driveway. This would save me the trouble & time of removing the ladder rack & crossover box from my Dodge. It would also look cool.

With this new motivation, I attacked the problem with a methodical mindset...and finally found the problem.

First, I pulled the distributor and got my big screwdriver to check whether that oil pump shaft positively engages with the drive gear (thanks again M38!):



Indeed it does— no movement, no slop. Hmmm...

So I grabbed hold of the Lovejoy couple and the rotor, and tried to turn them against each other— no dice; nothing moved.



Ok, maybe the tab on the distributor shaft isn’t indexing all the way in the oil pump slot? I installed it to check, after an eyeball alignment of the two, and -click- they meshed like they should.

I grabbed hold of the rotor, and with a little effort, I could tell the two were meshed, and then, with just a little more effort, I could turn the rotor freely.

Remember this?



I didn’t pay it much attention, and ground it flush so I could reinstall the distributor back in October.

Inspector Barnaby: “Use your head, Troy— what is the evidence telling you??”

After removing the distributor again, I held the rotor and the end of the shaft and twisted.

That roll pin somehow broke and worked its way partially out. It told me so months ago, but I ignored it. Now I just have to figure a way to get it out of there without a vise to hold the distributor shaft in place.

My dad— the best mechanical diagnostician I’ve ever met— is shaking his finger and head at me from the grave right now, saying “I taught you better than that.”

It’s true— he did.