Kid was driving and died pulling out of a parking lot. Cranks rough like its out of time, wont start. Pull the cap and the rotor had came loose. Replaced cap and rotor, same issue. Cap off again to check the sensor, found the reluctor wheel will spin on the shaft. Is there a pic or procedure to phase this on the shaft correctly? I was thinking of using some bearing mount to hold it in place on the shaft.

We just bought this so I'm reluctant to spend money on it right away.

 

If the reluctor wheel spins on the shaft it is absolutely 100% junk. Too bad 03 blazers don't have reluctor wheels in the distributor - ignition module is triggered from the crankshaft sensor through the PCM. What you describe would be a wheel for the cam sensor. Still junk if it spins on the shaft.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-1996-05...AAAOSwYnlcodHe

I believe is the same off-shore-made distributor we have all come to love (from Skip White). Unfortunately Skip White stopped selling them. Certainly your vehicle is worth $33.00

Good luck and best wishes for a successful repair.

 

I had looked at that one earlier. How have these low $ parts been holding up?

 

40K miles on mine so far. I did replace the cap/rotor with Delco parts and switched my old cam sensor over to the new distributor. But have never heard anyone complain about the Skip White distributor and a lot have used them.

I think this is the exact same distributor as the one I got from Skip White because of the shiny aluminum shaft, red gasket, and bronze colored hold-down. IIRC it cost me $41 + shipping 4 years ago. Original factory distributors have plastic body where screw holes for holding cap break off or strip out. This one is all aluminum. I replaced my distributor because of one of the screw holes had cracked and was broken so I was confident about the cam sensor I switched. In your case, I would not use your old cam sensor as it may have been damaged.

You should always check cam sensor retard with a capable scanner after replacing the distributor. Should be 0 (+/- 2) degrees. This is checking the relationship of the cam sensor signal to the crankshaft signal. If off, the rotor will not be pointing to the correct place when the spark comes through the distributor. This can be important for optimal performance. Note that the factory distributor hold down is locked into one position. Minor adjustments can be made in cam sensor retard by elongating the bolt hole with a dremel so the distributor will turn just a little bit. If off a lot, you are either off a full tooth or the distributor gear was installed on the shaft 180 degrees off (this is equivalent to 1/2 tooth, bacause there are 11 teeth on the distibutor). Other things that cause cam sensor retard to be off is slack/wear in timing gears/chain, and wear of the distributor gear teeth (both of these always make the cam sensor retard negative).

 

Cam sensor looks good. The tone wheel just spins. I'll try that dist and see how it goes. Thank you sir!!

 

You are welcome.

I just wondered if your tone wheel might have caught on the cam sensor and that is why it now spins. Didn't want to do same to a new distributor by telling you to switch cam sensors. I would keep your old cam sensor, cap, and rotor for a just in case and junk the rest of the distributor

 

So I put the dist back in and turned the eng to tdc. Twisted the tone wheel to align the rotor at #6 and fired right up. The replacement distributor is ordered. Thanks for your help.

 

Boy has this been a mess. Order the dist. Installed it and wouldn't start, making a rubbing noise when cranking. Remove the cap and turn over. The rotor is wobbling. Remove rotor and the tone wheel is welded to the shaft crooked. Contact eBay seller and he sends a replacement, taking a week and a half. . This one is not much better. Starts but runs very very rough. Found a used stock dist on the local Facebook page. Install it and runs rough. Ended up turning the dist gear clockwise 2 teeth to get it running smooth. Either I'm installing this wrong or I have deeper issues. I did alot of sbc stuff back in the day but this vortec stuff has me lost. The kid is driving it for a few days to see how it goes.

 

Sorry to hear the Ebay distributor I recommended was not good.

 

No worries Les. I've been pulling wrenches for almost 30 years. I've swapped parts, bought used, cheap and expensive parts and been burned on each kind. I took a chance and it didn't pan out this time. I'll try again sometime.