92 F150 distributor change. Straight 6

[tri again]

I've heard that the dist drive shaft can fall into the oil pan
when the distributor comes out.

Any thoughts?

buy a chebby?

[Scootertrash]

I've never had a Ford straight 6 apart, but I've pulled some Chebby distributors and never had the drive shaft drop into the oil pan. On the Chevs the drive gear is pinned to the bottom of the dist shaft. To me it doesn't make sense that they would create a situation where you'd have to try to stop something you can't reach from dropping into the oil pan. If nothing else the flange that the rotor cap fastens to would stop the shaft from dropping out of the dist assembly.

Now if the distributor shaft was broken somewhere inside the housing, that's a different story.....

[slashfan7964]

I've had a few Ford and Chevy V8's apart and that's never happened. I've never heard of it happening on the 300 6 either.


Unless it's broke at the shaft I wouldn't worry about it. It's all one piece that slides out of the housing. There's a gear on the end of it that connects to the cam gear.

[trike savior]

i can only speak from knowledge of the v8 ford. the oil pump driveshaft is a hex shape shaft looks like an allen key without a bend. the shaft goes into the pump and distributor drive gear. there is a cup on the pump side of the shaft that is supposed to keep the shaft from pulling out of the pump. i have herd on the odd occasion that if the cup has moved out of place and the shaft wants to stay with the distributor, it can come out of the pump, cup hits block and pulls shaft out of distributor, then the shaft can fall down into pan. at that point your only hope is a telescoping magnet.

i have never had this happen to me personally, and there really is nothing you can do to keep it from happening. it really is one of those 1 in a million stories (probably better chance winning lottery) but possible. the stock ford driveshaft cup has nothing to keep it in place except the interference fit. that is why the updated ones have some kind of retainer for the cup, if not all 1 piece.

i think it is a problem mainly for the 6 cylinder because of the angled distributor. on the v8's everything is straight up and down so if it happens the shaft falls right back into pump.

when you pull the distributor you should be able to see shaft (past (below) camshaft) in the hole. if not you may have a problem and should go buy a lottery ticket.

[Jeepermc]

I guess I'm one of those "one in a million". I had the driveshaft pull up with the distributor a little ways and then fall out of the dist and into the oil pan on a 390FE. I was able to pull the pan and fish it out. Have pulled apart a few of those motors and found more than one distributor driveshaft just loose in the pan and a new one driving the distributor. lol... I'd probably just leave one if I had to do it over again. My neighbor has a push rod floating around in his motor. Not sure if it's in one piece or two but we couldn't fish it out. It's not going anywhere.

[tri again]

Thanks very much everyone.
I've got to change one tomorrow, probably in the pouring rain.
I've changed every other suspect part thanks to a collection
of known working parts.
Been chasing an intermittent 'no start' for a couple years now.
I actually keep a bicycle in the back for trips to the store.

Hopefully this will fix it.
If I drop the hex driveshaft, I'll just get another one and leave
the lost one to float around in the bottom of 7 quarts of oil.
Reman is 80 bucks with 50$ core charge and new is 98$.
The pip sensor / Hall effect sensor in the distributor is in the top 3 causes.

...and then go buy a lottery ticket.
If I win, I'll split it with you all.
Thanks again

[trike savior]

if you are loosing spark after running a while you need to look at the things most effected by heat. don't know what you have tried so far but i am guessing and would agree the 3 most likely suspects are:
hall effect sensor (pulse sensor)
ignition coil
or computer

i hope you are certain beyond a doubt there is no spark when it dies. good luck

Jeepermc the older motors like the 390 are the reason they started putting the cup (retainer) on them. if i remember correctly the older stuff did not have one at all.

[tri again]

if you are loosing spark after running a while you need to look at the things most effected by heat. don't know what you have tried so far but i am guessing and would agree the 3 most likely suspects are:
hall effect sensor (pulse sensor)
ignition coil
or computer

i hope you are certain beyond a doubt there is no spark when it dies. good luck

Jeepermc the older motors like the 390 are the reason they started putting the cup (retainer) on them. if i remember correctly the older stuff did not have one at all.


The relays for fuelpump and cpu computer can get funky or freeze with moisture.
It will NOT start 'cold' on a 90+ degree day. but will run and start no matter how hot it gets. VERY strange.
Computer did melt a 50 cent capacitor but got that fixed.
..so swapped new coil, relays, computer, heat sink mounted ignition module, new plugs and wires of course and unplugged everything else like egr valve and throttle position sensor so I know it will run withOUT them.

90$ gamble once a year isn't too bad but I just don't like to walk very far.
Very little usable info with code reader.
so I guess I've evolved to the point of process of elimination.
Not real scientific and not real comforting but not much choice.

Ford-trucks.com is a great site and lots o' folks who care but this is just an oddity that
isn't very common.

Funny about the spark.
It will crank over veryvery fast like no spark but if I pull off a plug or coil wire and have someone look, it will show spark and then start, cranking normally against resistance like it's sparking.
I remember from my years ago that if you pull a plug wire back, it increases the voltage by double (say from 40k to 80k) so maybe that slaps something silly into working...and then it will start and run like nothing ever happened. No relation to temperature except for the 'cold start' ambient temp over 90 degrees.
. After a few years of this, it will now start but sounds like it's running on 3 or 4
and then clears up with full smooth fire after 2-3 min.

Wish I could go back to the old carb and coil days but I hear it's almost impossible with these.
Gas mileage is also horrible ( 10-12mpg is common with these) but it runs GREAT!!!!
I can pull out in traffic with a full load of firewood.
Torquey love / hate relationship for sure.
Thanks for your suggestions.
I seem to get severe tunnel vision when I work on my own stuff so I really appreciate any and all suggestions.