Some may have seen my other post about the distributer failure. I pulled it and sure enough the drive gears pin had sheared away letting it spin. Pulled my spare from another 400 and installed it the other day.

First off, that was a real PITA! Getting the oil drive to engage was not easy. I had to actually wedge myself on top of the engine, stand on the distriubuter and turn the engine over before it lined up and dropped in all the way.

But, after I started it up again I heard the tell tale clacking of a dry valvetrain. Watched the oil guage for a few seconds and nothing. Shut it down and tried again, letting it go for about 20 seconds, no pressure again.

Appears the oil pump is gone, maybe the root cause of the drive gear pin failure? Could I have damaged it by the force needed to install the distributer? Is there any other way to confirm the oil pump is shot w/o just starting it and watching the guage?

Wish I had been watching the guage when the distributer failed, if the oil pump quit causing the pin failure then how long did it go at 75 mph w/o pressure, makes me leary of throwing more parts and labor changing the pump while it's in the truck.

Maybe time to re-build the spare!

 

I'd start by pulling the dist back out and checking the oil pump drive shaft. You should be able to put a 5/16 socket on an extension on it and spin it fairly easily. The next thing I'd do is pull the shaft out and look at it, make sure it's in 1 piece and hasn't twisted up like a candy cane. It does sound like the oil pump siezed and the cam kept trying to turn the dist until the pin sheared.