Can anyone tell me where to buy a brand name (maybe Borg Warner) stator for my Duraspark distributor? I have a 1978 F100 with a 460. The aftermarket units dont seem to be all that great.

 

Any parts store that carries higher quality parts. I've had good luck with the Napa Echlin brand.

Jason

 

X 2. The one on my 74' is from Napa.

 

Stator or Pickup module ?

 

The magnetic part with the three prong connection. I have been told that the one from Napa is an Echlin, which is supposed to be a better of the name brands. I just put a new magnetic pickup in and all of this trouble began. I connected an inline test light to the coil connection on the dizzy cap and it flashes/flickers up as soon as I turn on the key. Is that normal?

 

Okay, I bought the Napa magnetic pickup. I set the timing marks to tdc. I set the distributor to point at the #1 spark plug wire tower. I have a test light designed to connect inline between the distributor cap and the plug wire. I connected it to the coil wire. As soon as I turn on the key, I get a flash from the light. If I turn the motor over the light flashes as if it is firing at each cylinder. I connected it to several plug wires and they sparked as the rotor connected to them. I tried to start the motor and I get a backfire from the carb. If I try to retard the distibutor the backfire from the carb will eventually go away, but no start. If I go forward from the set tdc point I get nothing but engine spin from the starter. I drove this truck up to the point it is still sitting at. I did not remove the distributor. I changed the mechanical advance and put it back together. It was running fine when I began. Low miles on valve train. Any ideas?

 

Are the pickups the same from the one you removed? Are they going in the same? Do you still have the old one to install to see if it will run? At this point, since you are gettting spark, I would reset your distributor, making sure that it is on TDC #1, and go from there.


I was thinking that you had to diassemble the dizzy to replace the pickup. Must be the later models I was thinking of.

Jason

 

I have tried the old one and two new ones. I did all the work without removing the distributor. I have set the tdc multiple times but I am going to do it again. If I have backfire through the carb then I have too much advance and backfire through the exhaust is too much retard, right?

 

Which TDC ?

at beginning pf power stroke or at the end of the exhaust stroke ?

What firing order are you using?

Is it in the direction the rotor turns?


How many miles on this engine ?

 

Which TDC ? Sorry for my lack of knowledge. I can only explain it as, I never removed the dizzy. With the rotor in place I turned the engine over to point the rotor to the number one cylinder tower on the dizzy cap and then with minor turning of the crankshaft I set to tdc according to the harmonic balancer. The motor ran fine when I began this procedure.

at beginning pf power stroke or at the end of the exhaust stroke ?

What firing order are you using? 15426378

Is it in the direction the rotor turns? Yes/counterclockwise


How many miles on this engine ? 5k?

 

What colour is the spark ...where it connects to the spark plug ?

Blue = Good

Yellow = Bad

 

Shouldn't mater which one your using. Any of them will at least let the engine start.
What was the problem that caused you to change the magnetic pickup module in the first place?
What is "all of this trouble" you are now refering to: the engine won't fire up?
That depend on what you mean by 'turn the key on'. If you mean you turn the ignition key to the on/(run) position, no, it's not normal for the coil to discharge. But if you turn the ignition key to the run position and then turn it to the off position the coil should discharge once.
If, when you say you 'turn the key on', you mean you turned the ignition key to the crank position and the engine was cranking, the coil should discharge each time the ignition magnetic pickup coil detected the metal stator tooth pass through its magnetic field.
But how did you determine that it was TDC on the c-o-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n stroke, and not TDC on the exhaust stroke?
What did you move to get the distributor rotor to point to the number one spark plug tower? Or was it already pointing in that direction? Was a stator tooth lined up dead center with the magnetic pickup coil when you did this?
If your sure you got fuel, I think you have it out of time. Triple check your secondary wires against the firing order. (Cylinder numbers 1 thru 4 are on the passenger side of the engine and 5 thru 8 are on the driver's side.)
What did you change in the mechanical advance? If you flipped the plate or changed the spring pressure, it may be over-advancing right at cranking speed. You could put a timing light on it while cranking and see right where its firing and remove all doubt.

Hang in there and you'll get it running - just takes a lot of patience and 'tripple checking'. Heaven knows, we all have (at least I have) been there a number of times!

 

pdqford,
Thanks for the help. Here goes:

I thought they were all the same thanks for confirming.

The old pickup was coming loose at the rivets.

The engine is backfiring through the carb.

I was turning the key to ON, not RUN.

I never pulled the distributor out and it was running fine an hour before I changed the mechanical advance.

With the harmonic balancer set at tdc the rotor was close so I adjusted the distributor a little.

Definately have fuel and the firing order is right.

I changed the mechanical advance because I needed less initial and the same total timing.

Thank you for your help with this. I am going to check the stator in a few minutes.

 

I pulled another distributor from my other 460 and it is doing the same thing. It must be in the connections. Any ideas?

 

Usually a sign that the timing is off.
The igniton switch usually has four positions. Typically: Accy, Off(Lock), Run(On), and Start. So when you turn the key to On, I'm assuming you mean it was not in the Start position.
And how did you adjust the distributor? If you rotated the distributor housing that will change the timing. And if you filipped the advance plate that will change the initial timing.
If you need less initial timing, you rotate the distributor housing to change the initial timing. The advance plate determines the total amount of advance.
What did you do to the mechanical advance?
How did you verify the results of what you did?

I'd put a timing light on it to verify that the timing is correct. If it is, we can move on from there.