am I doing something wrong?

[truckofwinandawesome]

I'm currently working on a 1989 GMC Sierra RCSB with a 350 TBI V8 at my school, its suspected to have either a blown Head Gasket or a Cracked Head; but before I can Pull the Heads, I need to Pull the Intake off. (i've already removed everything off the front of the engine as well as stripped everything off of the Intake Manifold) I've gotten to the point of Pulling the Distributor out of the engine, but I'm having trouble getting it out (before you even ask, the Distributor Hold Down Bolt and Clamp have already been removed!) is there anything I need to do to make it come out easier?

[scooby5121]

light wack with a rubber mallet. have to get the gears on the distributor to let loose a bit,

and the seal where they mate.

Work it , tugging too.

[Jsdirt]

Sometimes the section that mates with the intake manifold gets super-corroded (at least up north here with the never-ending road salt). I've seen some in marine engines that required a 3-jaw puller mounted to a slide hammer! I doubt yours is that bad, being from TN, so you shouldn't have to take it to that extreme. What Scooby said should work for you.

[Doug_Scott]

There is also likely a lot of crap built up around distributor housing below the gasket mention above. On a small block chev engine, the distributor actually goes though an oil passage in the block. Where the oil flows around the housing, it will leave that thick sludge attached to distributor housing, and will help in stopping the distributor from both turning, and coming out.

 

As stated above, you will need to get the distributor moving first, it needs to be able to rotate at least a quarter of a turn, back and forth. Get the housing moving, and as you rotate the housing back and forth, pull up on the housing as it turns. You may need to soak the base of the distributor in some solvent based liquid. WD40 does not generally help to dissolve the crap. Be careful on trying to pry the housing up, it can be damaged pretty easily. Keep at it once you can get it to rotate back and forth. It will come out, but will require patience. How much crap is in the rocker covers and around the rockers and valve springs?

[Duelin]

Like the others have mentioned get it moving a little. And I use carburator cleaner and spray it so it runs down the housing. Keep soaking it and moving it back and forth and pulling up at the same time. Just take you time so you don't break something.

[truckofwinandawesome]

There is also likely a lot of crap built up around distributor housing below the gasket mention above. On a small block chev engine, the distributor actually goes though an oil passage in the block. Where the oil flows around the housing, it will leave that thick sludge attached to distributor housing, and will help in stopping the distributor from both turning, and coming out.

 

As stated above, you will need to get the distributor moving first, it needs to be able to rotate at least a quarter of a turn, back and forth. Get the housing moving, and as you rotate the housing back and forth, pull up on the housing as it turns. You may need to soak the base of the distributor in some solvent based liquid. WD40 does not generally help to dissolve the crap. Be careful on trying to pry the housing up, it can be damaged pretty easily. Keep at it once you can get it to rotate back and forth. It will come out, but will require patience. How much crap is in the rocker covers and around the rockers and valve springs?

 

the Distributor is now Out! it was a Combination of PB Blaster, and Copius amounts of Twisting, Pulling and Prying that finally got it out. the engine has been sitting for about a Year I've been told, and the area under the valve covers was fairly dry of oil (but what little oil there was had the "Your Engine is 12 Ways PAST SCREWED" Burnt Smell.) and there was a nice little Suprise when I removed the #7 Spark Plug: COOLANT.

[Doug_Scott]

Your post reminded me of another way to get the distributor freed up.

It has been a long time since I have seen what the access is like to the distributor, when the cylinder head is pulled without removing intake first. I seem to recall you can see the housing if you look between the intake and the block with the head removed, and can spray solvents at it to loosen the baked on crap.

If you remove all intake bolts, you can get the head off with intake in place. Something to keep in mind should this ever come up again.

[truckofwinandawesome]

Update: the Heads are off, and the Prognosis is rather grim for this engine: EVERY Intake Valve Seal is Shot, which caused Oil to pool on the back of the Intake Valves which hardened into a crust, and a tar like Consistincy. one of the Head Bolts by Cylinder #7 decided to Snap off.

[Doug_Scott]

Pretty much normal for high mileage SBC engines. A guy I know that used to work in Oshawa plant bought a new truck in 90. 7 weeks later it was in for valve guides. We knew the machine shop that was doing the work, so we intercepted the heads and paid $50 to have the work done to a level higher than GM would pay for under a warranty repair. I forget the details of what they did, but think it may have been to cut the guides and install Teflon seals instead of the O-rings on the stem that GM used.

 

If the head bolt broke trying to remove it, then it was likely a wet bolt that was installed without any sealant on the threads. If it was broken before you tried to remove it, then I would say you were not the first person in there to remove head bolts. Given the mileage and the condition you already described when trying to remove distributor, I would have been surprised to have seen it any other way that It presented.

[waumo1]

^^^I don't know about Chevy engines of the time period but the higher performance Pontiac engines had the Teflon® umbrella seals and I had a tool to cut the guides to allow them to be used on the ones that did not. Installed both the o-rings and Teflon® umbrella seals on several Pontiacs years ago. Once that was done, no more valve stem oil burning for those engines.

[gmtech4]

i'd love to have an old motor to fix up and make all purdy !!!lol

[truckofwinandawesome]

Pretty much normal for high mileage SBC engines. A guy I know that used to work in Oshawa plant bought a new truck in 90. 7 weeks later it was in for valve guides. We knew the machine shop that was doing the work, so we intercepted the heads and paid $50 to have the work done to a level higher than GM would pay for under a warranty repair. I forget the details of what they did, but think it may have been to cut the guides and install Teflon seals instead of the O-rings on the stem that GM used.

 

If the head bolt broke trying to remove it, then it was likely a wet bolt that was installed without any sealant on the threads. If it was broken before you tried to remove it, then I would say you were not the first person in there to remove head bolts. Given the mileage and the condition you already described when trying to remove distributor, I would have been surprised to have seen it any other way that It presented.

 

oh yeah, THOSE were nice and Brittle, and crumbled during the Teardown. as for the Head Bolt, I will find out tomorrow when I attempt to extract the remains of the bolt still stuck in the block. luckily, the Exhaust Manifold Bolts didn't put up a fight after I sprayed PB Blaster on them.

[Jsdirt]

Those are the type of jobs that end up costing me money .... because I throw tools all over the place, and have to spend money to fix all the damage.

[kstruckcountry]

When I pulled apart the 350 in my 1990, I had no issues pulling it apart. 193k, had never been apart to my knowledge. Somehow didn't break a single bolt taking it apart, and I pulled the heads.

 

Putting it back together, that's another story, due to the scoring it won't happen, lol. Kills me though because it fired right up to pull it in and start tearing down, it sat for a year and both head gaskets were trashed.

[truckofwinandawesome]

Another Update: my Instructor showed me how to use our School's Magnaflux Tool, and I am Happy to say the Heads are A-OK! but the Remains of the Snapped Head Bolt are still stuck in the block.