Hello All,

I am new to Ford Trucks and was given an old 1979 F-250 Highboy for Christmas by my family friends. The truck itself has been sitting for about a year and has not been run. This past weekend we tried to start it and it seemed like it was seized up. So we tried to pull start it and pop the clutch while the truck was in 2 wheel high. This did not work as the rear tires were spinning in opposite directions. We put the F-250 in 4 high and then popped the clutch and the engine got freed up. We dragged the poor truck around the farm for about 30 minutes trying to get it to start. Replaced plugs and wires and still did not start. Finally pulled the cap off and turned the engine over a few times and the rotor did not move. So the engine turns over but the rotor does not spin. I was thinking broken distributor shaft, possible stripped distributor gear or possibly worse. But if there was a metal grinding issue wouldn't I hear it? Thoughts am I screwed? Should I push it to a scrap yard?

 

If It ends up being trashed don't scrap the truck. Save up money to get another engine or rebuild the one you have.

Things I can think off are bad dizzy gear or sheared roll pin. Maybe bad timing chain or gears. Could take a valve cover off and see if rockers are moving.
If it was seized you need to take spark plugs out and put some oil down in the cylinders and turn it over by hand or starter to lubricate the cylinders. Since you will probably be taking the dizzy out anyway use a drill to spin the oil pump and get oil to all the bearings. I wouldn't recommend trying to get it to start at all before doing all the above.

 

pull the distributor and look at the gear to see if it is bad or if the shaft is busted.
Like Blake said, prime the engine by spinning the oil pump. Also pull the plugs and squirt some oil down or trans fluid (my preference) in each cylinder to help loosen it up. I would pull a valve cover before priming so you can see if oil is getting to the rockers. If you are getting oil then trying turning the engine over and see if the valves are opening and closing.
You could have
1) a bad distributor, 2) bad timing chain and/or gears, 3) busted camshaft, 4) seized engine.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Mark

 

Your distributor shaft may have seized up-not uncommon on old stock distributors.

If you decide to get a new distributor, consider our custom curved Duraspark Distributor built with our new Full Length Oil Impregnated Bronze Bushing. The full length bushing improves timing stability and spark scatter. If stock appearance is not an issue, take a look at our one piece D.U.I. Distributor. Whether you choose the Duraspark or the D.U.I., we curve each on a distributor machine based on your engine combination. Please see them at:

http://performancedistributors.com/forddistributors.htm

Also, there is now an excellent installation article on the D.U.I. Distributor on the Ford-Trucks.com site at:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/0/358/article/DUI_Ignition_Installation_In_A_Ford_351W_V8.html

Ignition Lesson of the Month: Hystereses, the difference between the timing as the rpm and vacuum increases to the timing as rpm and vacuum decrease, needs to be kept to a minimum. A precise advance curve accomplishes this.