Seized Reman Dizzy Big Problems...

MORDENENOUGH · Aug 4, 2008

Hope you guys can help! I purchased a reman distributor from NAPA for my 95 GTS because the hall effect sensor died. I stabbed it in and timed everything to the T. The car ran the best it ever has for about 30 minutes and then while out on the test drive, the dizzy seized SOLID...the pin in the gear didn't shear off either. So the cap, rotor and adaptor all got broke the electrical connector ripped from it mount and I thought the oil pump driveshaft snapped. When everything seized the dizzy spun and the engine stalled instantly which saved the oil pump shaft and engine. The fuel rail was also damaged but did not rupture, good thing or there would have been one giant BBQ.

My question is this...The dizzy I got was based on the 93 dizzy body but had the electronics from a 94/95 they dimensionally are the same but has anybody else run into this problem? Now my car is DEAD until NAPA comes good on the parts if at all. Is anyone running aluminum after market fuel rails with a stock distributor? What mods if any to make it fit?

Sorry for being long winded, had to vent any help would be great! Thanks

Paul · Aug 4, 2008

I'm not sure I understand. So the distributor shaft seized and the housing spun around?

I'm running aftermarket rails on a couple of cars. One is a windsor so it fits fine, the other was converted to a small distributor cap so it fits fine too.

Paul.

tommybunz · Aug 4, 2008

maybe just got a bad dizzy. get another one and run the car but dont drive it. gas it by hand for a while see what happens. probably just got a bad dizzy.

CC'S95GT · Aug 4, 2008

is there any chance the gear was made of the wrong material for the type of cam in the sn95 motors and that's what sized inside be careful about shavings inside when you fire it back up

Addermk2 · Aug 4, 2008

if napa doesnt replace everything that is damaged.... I'd be talking to a lawyer

Paul · Aug 4, 2008

Addermk2 said:
if napa doesnt replace everything that is damaged.... I'd be talking to a lawyer

Yeah right. Because NAPA is somehow liable for everything that goes wrong in a car if a defective part fails. Good luck with that one.

Further, the first few hours of the lawyer's services would cost more than all the repairs.

d_punch · Aug 4, 2008

I wouldn't have walked out of the store with that part to put in my car. it's clearly not the part for your car.
so if it's a 93 housing what did you do with the TFI module that located on the housing? cause our model it's located on the strut tower.

MORDENENOUGH · Aug 5, 2008

To add a bit to all of your responses which I appreciate, YES the shaft seized inside the housing. The gear was the steal gear for roller cams, and the reman distributor had a plate blocking off the openning for the TFI and the internals/electronics were the same as the 94/95 stuff so the whole thing was plug and play, my external TFI was still used. I checked the gear and dizzy with the old one with the NAPA guy before I even attempted to install it, everything seemed to check out. The seized dizzy only showed minor were on the gear teeth so not to worried about metal shavings...

Thanks for the input.

Dr Fildo · Aug 5, 2008

Ummm. I just installed a NAPA dizzy on Saturday. It looked just like the old one. How do I know if it was the right one? I had it ordered, cause they didn't have one in stock. I don't know the difference betw. the 93 and the 95...

Should I be concerned?

CC'S95GT · Aug 5, 2008

the fox dizzys have the tfi module mounted to the dizzy and the 94/95's have the tfi under the air box freak accurance i hope

d_punch · Aug 5, 2008

MORDENENOUGH said:
To add a bit to all of your responses which I appreciate, YES the shaft seized inside the housing. The gear was the steal gear for roller cams, and the reman distributor had a plate blocking off the openning for the TFI and the internals/electronics were the same as the 94/95 stuff so the whole thing was plug and play, my external TFI was still used. I checked the gear and dizzy with the old one with the NAPA guy before I even attempted to install it, everything seemed to check out. The seized dizzy only showed minor were on the gear teeth so not to worried about metal shavings...

Thanks for the input.

Thats strange that they went through that trouble to turn that dizzy into a 94-95 one.

one thing i don't get if the shaft seized and had enough force to spin the housing breaking it loose from the hold down, but it didn't break the gear or break the pin and just spin the gear?

so did you get another dizzy to put in the car?

xsoutherngun89x · Aug 5, 2008

MORDENENOUGH said:
To add a bit to all of your responses which I appreciate, YES the shaft seized inside the housing. The gear was the steal gear for roller cams, and the reman distributor had a plate blocking off the openning for the TFI and the internals/electronics were the same as the 94/95 stuff so the whole thing was plug and play, my external TFI was still used. I checked the gear and dizzy with the old one with the NAPA guy before I even attempted to install it, everything seemed to check out. The seized dizzy only showed minor were on the gear teeth so not to worried about metal shavings...

Thanks for the input.

your supposed to use a bronze gear for roller cams...

i had one blow up on me in my old 86 f-150 with a 5.0 out of a 95 GT... I made the mistake of keeping the non-roller gear on my trucks dizzy and sure enough it ate that bitch up. Slapped a bronze gear on and everything was cake. I dont think thats gonna be your problem however...

wayne94mustang · Aug 5, 2008

xsoutherngun89x said:
MORDENENOUGH said:

To add a bit to all of your responses which I appreciate, YES the shaft seized inside the housing. The gear was the steal gear for roller cams, and the reman distributor had a plate blocking off the openning for the TFI and the internals/electronics were the same as the 94/95 stuff so the whole thing was plug and play, my external TFI was still used. I checked the gear and dizzy with the old one with the NAPA guy before I even attempted to install it, everything seemed to check out. The seized dizzy only showed minor were on the gear teeth so not to worried about metal shavings...

Thanks for the input.

Click to expand...

your supposed to use a bronze gear for roller cams...

i had one blow up on me in my old 86 f-150 with a 5.0 out of a 95 GT... I made the mistake of keeping the non-roller gear on my trucks dizzy and sure enough it ate that ***** up. Slapped a bronze gear on and everything was cake. I dont think thats gonna be your problem however...

bronze, steel, or poly are all ok to use

MORDENENOUGH · Aug 6, 2008

I know the gear pin should have sheared off but it didn't, everything spun and lucky for me because it killed the engine before the oil pump shaft broke. Still waiting on NAPA or its supplier for a refund or decision on what they plan to do. Car is still dead and summer is almost over...might just retire her for the season!

fiveliterdriver · Aug 7, 2008

have had issues with the distributors in my car also a napa reman. The first one just would die after heating up and also run for hours when sitting in front of my garage. Annoying. However, the second one I got was also based out of the older distributor design and I had t shave a little material off of the case to allow room for rotation without hitting the intake. I would imagine you would have had to do the same thing but if you were rotated just enough I guess it could have cleared. Being that I didn't feel like chasing my tail I just modified it the make sure it fit. I am sure you would have noticed if yours had of been hitting.

I deal with napa on a professional basis as I run a shop. You need to demand that they make this right. Their part failed clearly. There isn't to many ways you could have installed the distributor wrong so don't see that being your fault. I just wouldn't sit and wait. Push them to serve you, the customer, as they would a shop.

Just my 2 cents. I hate to see anyway let Napa get the better of them.

MORDENENOUGH · Aug 7, 2008

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts on this. The fact that this distributor was a bit wider in spots is part of what caused the damage when it failed. It hit the fuel rail and riped the protective covering right off the crossover fuel line, if it would have ruptured...KA BOOM big fire! I called them again today and they are waiting for another distributor to come in. It seem here in Ontario were I live there isn't a demand for this part.

fiveliterdriver · Aug 8, 2008

yeah like I said let us know how that all works out. not sure I have ever heard of that happening before.

And give napa hell. The just claim it as a defect/warrantee and it affects them not at all.

95stockauto · Aug 9, 2008

I just bought a ReMan dist from Advance Auto parts and it is also a '93 style with the electroincs for the '95. I am going to install tonight so I hope I don't have any issues.

MORDENENOUGH · Aug 14, 2008

Well he is where I'm at right now with this mess, I put in a complaint with NAPA'S head office and they too have yet to rectify anything so I went to an Auto Zone in the USA and bought the replacement parts for pocket change and have since remanufactured my old distributor myself. That included replacing a broken adaptor bolt, the adaptor and the faulty pick-up that was in it. When I retimed the car and started it up, it was making a loud top end "TICK", like a bent pushrod or compressed lifter. I was pretty pissed. After checking and restarting the engine a few times over a couple of days, the noise has now stopped and I am driving the car again but very cautiously. I will never buy another thing from NAPA unless somebody finally solves this. It has been over 1 month of this BS.

MORDENENOUGH · Aug 19, 2008

Today, the district store manager for NAPA called me back after I had phoned his office again and finally resolved this issue. He has agreed to refund my money and give an instore credit for the insidentals needed to fix my car. It was nice to be taken seriously finally. Beware other DIYer's they wanted to fined fault with the installation and were very quick to point out that I was not a licensed mechanic or qualified business. Ultimately the car is running again but down on power for some reason and I will probably do a rebuild anyway. Thanks for the support!