the rotor under my dist. cap wont turn either. are timing chains hard to change out?
I have an 83 buick lasabre, no spark or fuel delivery. think timing chain is bad. can you confirm.?
I own a shop, and if the rotor doesn't turn, then something is broken, either the timing chain/belt, or the distributor gear has sheared the teeth off of it. To confirm; Remove the valve cover, turn engine by hand, and if the valves aren't working then it's shot for sure. You will have to remove the spark plugs in order for it to turn easy enough.
Part two:
Depending on the engine, some timing chains/belts can be pretty dificult to change. Some special tools are required. The pulley on the crankshaft must be removed to change it, and you must have a puller to remove it because it is a press fit. If you have one that is stuck, then you can break it very easy without the proper pulling device to use on it. You can go to the library, and look at a %26quot;Chiltons Repair Manual%26quot; that covers your engine. This will walk you through the operation step by step, has pictures, and explains how its done the right way. On a scale of 1-10 the difficulty of this job is about an 8, so you can decide if its one you should tackle or not. One way to look at it is; if you make a mistake, the common things that will happen are; the engine won't run, could fire at the wrong time bending a rod, blowing a head gasket, breaking a piston, or bending one or many valves. Yes this sounds like major damage to me. Even done right, its very difficult to do this job without causing an oil leak, because on most chain type engines, you must drop the oil pan down to get the timing cover back in place without messing the front crank seal up. This is a job better left to a professional. In the long run you will be much better off.
Glad to help out, Good Luck!!!
I have an 83 buick lasabre, no spark or fuel delivery. think timing chain is bad. can you confirm.?
If the rotor wont turn then the timing chain is bad. the timing chain is pretty easy to replace.The hardest part about this repair is removing all of the accessory brackets to get to the front cover.
