Timing gear failure?

[paradocs#31]

What are the symptoms of a timing gear failure? My '31 A suddenly sputtered to a stop during a drive and stalled out and would not start or even fire with spark available at plugs. At the time I believed it was fouled fuel because there was some evidence of rust/flakes of sludge in gas drained from gas bowl through drain cock under Zenith 1 carb. After carb clean-up and new gaskets from Snyder's Antique Auto, what I observed was what appeared to be back pressure forcing gas to spray out of carb air vent on lower half of gas bowl when cranking engine over several times with elec starter. Any & all help would be greatly appreciated. Thx, JohnB

[katy]

Do a compression check, and/or remove spark plugs and observe valve operation

[Flathead]

See if the dist rotor is turning.

[Will N]

Originally Posted by Flathead

See if the dist rotor is turning.

Yes, this is the easiest way to check. Take the dist body off and crank the engine. Watch the rotor spin. It should rotate smoothly without any skips or pauses, which would indicate some broken/missing teeth on the timing gear. You can take the inspection cover off the timing gear to check the condition of the teeth (don't forget the oil pan bolt that runs up into the inspection cover!)


I suspect that what caused your problem could have been vapor lock or some other fuel starvation problem. Blocked vent on gas cap? Sticking float in carb?

[WHN]

Take off the timing gear side plate. That will tell you everything you need to know about the timing gear.

[Bruce of MN]

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Originally Posted by Flathead

See if the dist rotor is turning.

That was my clue 5 years ago.

[Big hammer]

First thing I would check would be timing and points gap, while turning the engine over and checking when the pin drops in and where the rotor is pointing. If the rotor is off it could be the timing gear or the distributor cam has slipped .