OT...V6 Chevy marine engine distributor gear trouble

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Originally Posted by 632 Regal

if its a high volume/high pressure oil pump with a thick oil, thats the problem. Either run a thinner oil like 5w-40 mobil one or replace the pump with a stock type pump. In boat motors the oil never really gets hot because of the way they are cooled so the oil never thins out and the pump is working VERY hard to circulate that thick stuff.

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You might have something here Jeff. Normally, Chevy engines are noted for the top end oiling. With relatively low rpm, and coupled with the fact that the oil never gets warm enough to flow freely around this part of the engine could be a contributing factor. I have seen where the last journal of the distributor is supposed to be filed with a triangular file to allow the oil to drain down from the valley area in when at low RPM.

I have no experience with marine engines whatsoever. But it makes sense that they have to make power down low. The engine goes from idle to full throttle upon takeoff and the cam is ground to work at low rpms. There's some kind of clearance problem. I think the cam is walking back under engine torque.

A couple weeks ago I asked him to call Jasper to verify that they do not use high volume oil pumps. They said they didn't...but it didn't occur to me to ask him what weight oil he's using...

i dont think cam walk is a problem, the distributer gear doesn't care where the cam is unless its going too far and only running on the edge of the teeth. Also sounds like the wrong cam for the application but thats a story for another day after figuring this problem out.