Road trip from hell

Just a little history before I get started.

When I moved to Tennessee from Texas, my trucks water pump decided to go out on me. Very not cool.

So, I was planning on leaving Knoxville around 3am friday morning to make the drive back. Around 11:30 thursday night, I was wide awake and decided I would just leave then. I figured going to sleep for 3 hours wasn't really worth it and i would probably be more tired from a short nap. So, I left.

Everything was going great, truck was pulling trailer with no issues.

Then came 7am, with a rude awakening. I was on Ints. 59 in Mississippi when my engine suddenly popped really loud and my engine stopped running. For one thing I'm pissed cause I know something is wrong, and the other is because I was making killer time on the road. I was about to make the 14 hour drive in 11.

So, I didn't have a number to call, so I called 911 and informed them of my non emergency situation. An officer soon arrived and called for a tow truck. The tow driver gets there and informs me of the $100 tow fee. There wasnt much I could do at thsi point, so he hooked me up and the U-Haul also.

He dropped me off at the mechanic and from there they scanned the engine and based on what I explained to them, they were able to figure out it was my rotor in my distributor that went out. When they pulled it out (after dismantling my intake manifold....damn engineers), the gears on the bottom of the rotor were shredded. So all that was replaced was rotor, cap, distributor, and the intake manifold gasket.

Around 1pm and after dropping $580 I was on the road. After about and hour of driving, the rotor decided it would come loose a little, so my truck misfired at certain times.

Long story short, after all this, 963 miles to houston, some hella traffic on I-10 and being awake for 2 days straight, was happy to be home, and done with the trip from hell.

Glad you made it!! When I read your post, I was wondering where all those pieces of the distributor gear went and how long before they shredded something internally..

Not entirely sure why they pulled the intake to replace the distributor thou..?? But since those intake gaskets leak, it probably was a good thing..

From the way I read your post though, are you still having misfirings? You may be in trouble with that motor.. Patrick

Glad you made it!! When I read your post, I was wondering where all those pieces of the distributor gear went and how long before they shredded something internally..

Not entirely sure why they pulled the intake to replace the distributor thou..?? But since those intake gaskets leak, it probably was a good thing..

From the way I read your post though, are you still having misfirings? You may be in trouble with that motor.. Patrick

Thats a good question as to where the other shavings went. guess I'll find out soon enough.

I should mention I have the big block. There is no way to get to the dist. without removing the intake. Wish there was, I would have saved a ton on the labor.

It doesn't misfire all the time. Its kinda hard to explain when it does it. One of those, "dust drive it and you'll see" kind of things. I'm gonna take it to my bud in town this week and see what he can do with it.

luckily it turned out to be what i thought it was. the rotor had come loose, one of the wires wasn't seated correctly, and the timing was out. so, another $200 and im back on the road.

I have nothing technical to contribute, but I will vouch for having AAA coverage for the last 8 years or so. $75 bucks a year for the "premium" coverage is good. We've used it every year: tow to the dealer, tow to the shop, tow from BF Folkston, GA to Valdosta, etc. It gets us out of a jam every time.
-R