MSD distributor shaft broke 🙁

[aone415]

So out on a highway cruise doing about 60 and hear 2 backfires and the car shuts down... Towed home and start going through the ignition to find that the distributor shaft snapped!!!!! Called MSD They said they've never heard of this happening to a Mopar.  The engine will crank by hand so I'm hoping nothing else is wrong,  checked the gear and it looks okay and spins with the cam which should mean that the oil pump is working... asking if anyone can tell me whT else I should be looking for while I wait for the shaft to arrive

[JB400]

Does the rotor in the distributor turn freely?   Either way, that sucks

[BLK 68 R/T]

I'd pop the oil pump drive gear out and look at the bushing in the block. Make sure its not damaged or out of round.

[justcruisin]

I have found that with some drive shafts that the distributor will bottom out on the shaft before it sits on the block, this was the case with a MSD pro billet and a 440 source shaft on my own 440. Other distributors seem to fit correctly but with the pro billet I needed to fit a 0.030" spacer to take up the gap.

[flyinlow]

 

I'd pop the oil pump drive gear out and look at the bushing in the block. Make sure its not damaged or out of round.

Broke where the roll pin fits. Over stressed during assembly?

If you do not find anything wrong with the engine, it would not be hard for me to attribute it to MSD mediocre quality.      Mysterious Spark Disappearance.

[aone415]

Thanks for the feedback... the Distributor is about 8 years old with under 5,000 miles on it... I'll pull the gear tomorrow or over the weekend to check the oil pump...

[cdr]

Thanks for the feedback... the Distributor is about 8 years old with under 5,000 miles on it... I'll pull the gear tomorrow or over the weekend to check the oil pump...

and as was said, the oil pump shaft drive bushing

[danmc77]

[danmc77]

I know it's an old thread, but same thing happened to me. Didnt make it around the block and heard loud backfire and it died. No spark after that. Pull dizzy and find this. Broken in same spot, and break looks identical.  Clearly a mfer flaw where that pin is drilled.  Spend over 500 for this from Summit, sat on it and now brand new and no warranty.  So guess I'm sending back for repair and paying whatever they charge...

[Rolling_Thunder]

Sounds like MSD isn't exactly a high quality part these days...   may as well get a Chinese made knock off - probably comes out of the same factory MSD stuff does.

[Nacho-RT74]

Called MSD They said they've never heard of this happening to a Mopar.

But yes on the rest of brands? LOL

[John_Kunkel]

I've seen factory distributor shafts snap in the same place, usually due to a seized lower bushing. But the MSD has a ball bearing doesn't it?

[xsr/tse]

The pump shaft and distributer hole are machined incorrectly and do not line up.  Which will snap a shaft. Or at least ware out the bushings in the distributor. Causing ignition problems...I had 70 440 with this problem and now I have a 413 with the same problem now.