I have a F-250 with a 300 I6 engine in it. The truck has about 160K on it. The truck has a 4SP manual tranny. l only put about 4K/yr on it. Once or twice a year we take short (under 30 miles one-way) trips pulling a 30ft 5th wheel trailer. Last fall while pulling the 5th wheel, the engine suddenly lost power and started backfiring badly. I pulled the truck home and have not attempted to do anything with it since. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to check first? I suspect the timing gears, but is there any way to tell short of tearing down the front of the engine? With this many miles on the engine I am inclined to replace the it if it is a serious problem rather than spend $$$ fixing it. Any and all thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

I'd have to say check the pin that holds the gear to the dizzy. That's exactly how mine went out, I've also heard of the module on the side of the distributor go out like that.

 

pop off the timing gear cover and check it. I have never had a timing gear go out, but I guess it can happen. I would do a compression test, it sounds more like a burnt exhaust vale to me. Was the motor getting hot?

 

Buddies of mine truck did that....come to find out that the distrubter locking screw came loose

 

Checked the hold down bolt on the distrubutor...it's still tight. The truck was runing a little hot, but still in the normal range with good oil pressure. Is there a way to check the valve timing short of pulling the harmonic balancer? I will pull the dist and check the pin on the gear and do a comp check as well. What pressure is considered good? Thanks for all of the responses so far,

Kevin

 

Dont trust stock gauges

 

Pull the dizzy and check the gear...Mina also ran hot because the timing was too retarded.

 

Check the timing before you pull anything apart- If it is really retarded, pull the dizzy out. If everything in there is ok, it could be the timing gears, and go from there.