North American Turbocoupe Organization

so, the other day i was out on a test drive, trying to figure out why i keep having this overboost problem, i got into it and heard a loud POP then the car died. Turns out my distibuter gear broke. The teeth are all chewed up with the same half C shaped groove all the way around, and a couple of the teeth are almost gone. i bough the car a few months ago, the distributer is a reman, and looks pretty new. The Oil pump seems to turn fine. Maybe its ongoing and the previous owner put a new one in to cover up a problem and get it sold? printed OEM part # on it is E3ZE-12131-BB Couple questions on this problem.

1. My Chiltons shows 3 different Distributers for the '88. How do i know if i have the right one? and could that cause the gear issue?

2.There are 2 different spots to put the roll pin for the gear on. Which one is right? they are incredibly close to being the same. Maybe it was wrong to begin with? Also the hole on the distributer shaft (where the roll pin for the gear goes), seems to be slightly elongated.

3. i was planning on using a camera to look at the Aux. Cam gear to make sure it looked ok, and replace the timing belt and change oil, then put it back together. Does this seem an acceptable fix?

4. Bit of a different topic. recently when i drive and get under boost, (before the overboost problem started), it sounded like my wastegate was stuck. underboost, (10-15 lbs) i lost almoat all power, and i could hear a loud hissing, i have checked all the vacuum lines and boots, they all seem ok and tight. it was bad enough that the car actually startrted actually slowing down! could see the speedo dropping. fyi. i think this car was a field car before i got iy. lots of rust on turbo and a few other components.

Thanks for all the help in advance!

Forget what happened with the previous owner. what is operative is "The teeth are all chewed up with the same half C shaped groove all the way around, and a couple of the teeth are almost gone". This means that there are particles of the dist gear and maybe the aux shaft gear in the engine. Sooner or later, a particle will pass into the oil pump with it's small clearances and will bind up the pump, at least long enough to chew up another gear(s) and add more particles to the mix. This becomes a repeating cycle until the engine is cleaned out well. We have seen this many times. Here is one man's tale of repair: http://natomessageboard.com/ubbthreads.p...Post241609

Good luck with it.

"3. i was planning on using a camera to look at the Aux. Cam gear to make sure it looked ok, and replace the timing belt and change oil, then put it back together. Does this seem an acceptable fix?"


Absolutely inspect that Aux shaft gear! Mine was chewed up along with the dizzy.

If you want to go cheap n quick with just a dizzy gear replacement, I would suggest getting a magnetic drain plug and do an immediate oil change right after your initial clean oil startup. If the Aux, Shaft gear is damaged, then none of what I said will help your situation.

Just repaired mine this past spring.

Got a new aux shaft and bronze dizzy gear. Any tips or instructions on replacing it? Going to do it tonight. Seems like its a pretty cut and dry replacement. Disassemble, pull shaft out, replace with new, line up marks, reassemble, start, change oil, car dinally makes it to wi ter storage.

Some replacement dist gears only have a hole drilled on one side, at least that's how one came to me. After getting everything lined up, I drilled the opposite whole using the dist hole as a guide. You may not have that issue to deal with.

Does the auxiliary camshaft / sprocket need to be timed with the camshaft and crank when I put the belt back on?

Yes and no..... crank to cam timing is critical, but you can put the aux shaft in with any orientation. Then put the timing belt on, and put the distributor in so the rotor is pointing toward #1 oh the cap when crank is at TDC on the #1 cyl compression stroke. The engine should start, and you can now set ignition timing to stock 10 deg BTDC, or a little higher (many of us run 12 to 14 deg). Be sure SPOUT plug is disconnected when setting base timing.

Thanks guys! Finally got her running again! Its been since early November! One last question. Its running good now, but i can hear noise coming from the distributor/cam gear now. Kinda clanking. Is that normal for new gears until they seat in together?

You should not hear clanking. Something isn't right.

^^^^ +1000

Are you sure the cam and aux shaft gears bolts are tight? Belt tensioner setup correctly? Belt guides on the cam and crank gears installed correctly? Dist all the way in the hole?

Once, on another car years ago, I didnt have the dist cap tightened down all the way and it made a horrible clanking sound.