30 minute maintenance gone awry

[little_joe]

Ok, I really am a dork. And many many thanks to our leader, Greg, for bailing me out.

Did I say I'm a dork?

I removed my distributor to replace the o-ring in order to solve an oil leak problem. This is a brain-dead simple 30-minute job. If you pay attention.

After cleaning everything up, I snapped off one of the dizzy cap bolts. Duh. Fixed that, and in the course of fixing it I dropped a magnetized screw driver. Which I still haven't found.

Turned the key, and nada. Turned over, no fire. So I rechecked the excellent o-ring how-to here on 'Mud, and figured I must have been off on the timing. Removed everything, turned the crank to TDC, buttoned it back up, and nada.

At this point I called Greg. After chatting a bit, his suggestion of pulling the #1 plug to find TDC made the most sense, so I did that. Buttoned it back up, Cruiser fired right up.

So several times I thought I was at TDC but was not. Also I forgot what orientation the rotor was in when I removed it. Thankfully I at least marked the timing adjustment bolt.

If you find a nice magnetized screw driver in Holly Springs, Apex, Cary, or Raleigh, it may be mine.

Thanks again Greg! and O - I'm a dork.

 

[diggity]

I am on the lookout, been needing a nice magnetized one Glad you got it sorted out...Greg, do you have a life, crap every time I turn around you are helping out.

I will be calling soon as well

 

[southerncruiser62]

It's something I enjoy, what can I say....it's also helping me achieve a long term plan.

 

[Cruiser Man]

Joe,

Don't worry about it, it can happen very easily. You just have to make sure it is at TDC on the compression stroke amd not the exhaust stroke.

Glad Greg got you fixed up!!!

 

[fourtrax]

wrap (coil) a metal wire around the shaft of your screw driver then touch one end to the ground on your battery and then breifly touch the other end to the hot. you will end up with a magentized screwdriver. it will fade away over time.

 

[little_joe]

I found my magnetized screw driver. However it is no longer in my possession.

This morning heading up Hwy 1, I hit a bump, heard something ping the undercarriage and saw a gleaming, shiny object bouncing up behind me. The owner of a gold Ford Explorer SportTrac inherited it for just a sec, then it tumbled out of sight..........

 

[fourtrax]

bummer....