Ok my second Custom Cruiser decided to stop working today. It is the 1987 that my room mate uses for work and since the wife goes back to work Monday I need this car to work. We just did a tune up Tuesday and it ran great. Today we went out got in it and the wipers didn't work. No real big deal thought it was a fuse I could check later. We drove down the road maybe a mile or two when the wiper came on, did one sweep and the car died. So we walked home I got some tools a space coil, and ignition module(only things we didn't change on the tune up) and went back to the car. I switched all I could and nothing, so I had it towed home. After getting it back I tried putting the orginal coil back in it. there were maybe 2 times it felt like it might be trying but not really. So the decision was made to go non-CCC. SO i went about pulling the distributor. It was very tough to get out and when it did it came out with a hex shaft sticking out the bottom. Is this for the oil pump drive? Fit so how do I get it out of the distributor and get it back in the engine the right way? Any other ideas, info or suggestions are more than welcome. Thanx so much.

 

Sorry to hear about the misfortunes - sounds like an electrical open somewhere.

The hex shaft is for the oil pump. I would assume it pulls out, but then again, i never had an Olds disty out.
Many other will be able to help out more here.
Did you get a check engine light when the car died?

Are you getting 12V on the disty plug pink wire when the ignition switch is in the RUN position?

 

The shaft is not supposed to com out with the distributor, but they sometimes do. If it is stuck in the bottom of the gear the edges may be rounded and I would replace it, but that's just me.
It just drops down the small hole under the distributor. If you look down you'll see it. Just don't drop it in the oil pan or you'll have an even bigger job ahead of you.

 

See? That's what you get for calling that engine "offset"...

How about some basic troubleshooting before pulling parts? Do you have spark? Did you check the timing while cranking?

 

Isn't there a retainer on the distributor drive shaft on the bottom above the oil pump so it doesn't walk up when running or pull out with the distributor?
My '71 350 is like that, not sure about the later engines? They go in from the bottom before the oil pump, may have a few more parts to remove if that's the case.

 

The retainer is just a pressed-on stamped sheet metal washer. The resistance to pulling the combined distributor and shaft out of the motor was that retainer sliding down the shaft on it's way to the oil pan sump. The purpose of the retainer is just to keep the shaft in the motor during assembly until the distributor is in place. If the retainer wasn't there, the shaft would just drop out the top of the motor when it was inverted to install the oil pump and pan. You can drop the shaft back in from the top without the retainer with no problems.

 

Well we fixed it and you will never believe what it was. I had the CCC distributor out and was fiddling with the oil pump shaft when my wife notices that the inside bottom of the cap is broken at the button that the rotor rides on. It was really broken. I have never seen that in my life. So the rest of the afternoon was trying to get it running right again. In my haste I didn't take notice what the rotor orintation was so I had to find TDC twice. First time i must have been off a tooth or something. Then the second time I had a hard time timing it. Hard to see the timing tab and marks on this car there is so much crap. Runs really well now. Just have to fix the valve cover leak now.

 

Hooray for our side...