Last August, during my drive from Southern California to school in Indianapolis, my '88 GT died in beautiful Tucumcari, New Mexico. The guys at Brian Urlacher's GM dealership replaced the ignition module and coils and I was good to go.

Last week, my car died on the freeway on the way to work. AAA towed me to the local GM dealership in Costa Mesa where the techs first concluded that I needed a new ignition module and coils (!!), then decided that a whole new distributor was needed. After installing the new distributor, they discovered that the distributor was not rotating when they turned the engine over. Then they said that they wanted to replace the entire engine!

Heck with that. I told them to put all the old parts back, and I'll look for another shop to do the work. (Please see my "Mechanic in Orange County, California?" thread.)

Anyone have any experience with the distributor / ignition on the '88 GT that they feel might be helpful? I have to drive back to Indianapolis in a few weeks and I would sure like to feel confident that the problem is FIXED this time (without replacing the whole engine!).

Thanks!

Have someone crank your car while you look in the oil fill hole in the valve cover. If you don't see the rockers move, that will explain why your distributor didn't turn -- timing chain broken. You wouldn't need a whole new engine to fix that.

well, if the dist dont turn with the engine - there is a MAJOR problem somewhere
could be they just didnt seat it all the way - but doubt it
my first check would be - take the oil cap off, and crank again, and see if the valve/rockers are moving - if not - your timing chain broke

Could also be that the roll pin in the distributor gear has failed and the gear is just spinning on the shaft. If the rockers are moving and the distributor is not turning, take out the dist and check the gear.