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Distributor question

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67-LS1

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I’m helping my daughter work on her Monsoon 335 in her 2003 Malibu. It’s a 350 GM based V-drive. It has an intermittent issue where it will die and not restart.
Unfortunately I’m in California and she and the boat are in Massachusetts so it’s a long distant repair. I’m not 100%sure yet whether it’s fuel or ignition
I’m going down the list of things to check and I had her pull the distributor cap. The inside contacts had quite a bit of oxidation/corrosion so I had her replace the cap and rotor. While the cap was off I noticed it’s pretty rusty in there so maybe it needs to be cleaned up some.
Then she showed me how an outer ring or shield around what appears to be a reluctor wheel is loose.
Should this be loose?
Is it just a shield?
 

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Thats a Delco EST distributor...and it is a shield...and it shud be tight...

You can buy a new one fairly cheap...
 
A new shield or a new distributor?
Is there anything “marine” specific about this distributor? I noticed it’s not gasketed like my distributors in my 7.4L Mercruisers or my Sanger w/ONC Cobra.
 
The whole distributor is easier...from what I have seen, even the original DELCO units never protected the internal parts very well from corrosion...once they get some age on them, the corrosion process kicks in...If you can't source one, send me a PM with your email.

The gasket isn't as important as the screening on the vent holes....I have found nothing mechanical on those distributors that was marine specific. I suspect that the original DELCO modules had marine specific versions but they never release the tech data to validate the idea. If the ECU controls the timing, the module part number is irrelevant.
 
EST dizzy is very reliable, even when rust is seen.
Most cases when they fail it's the module, and module can be picked up from local parts house or GM. Try not to get one from Amazon unless you know the seller
 
I’m back… My daughter didn’t get the issue fixed before she winterized it so my wife and I are going back to Massachusetts at the end of April and I’m going to figure this thing out. I’m bringing all of my diagnostic equipment and we’re going take the boat out and hope it fails. I’ll be able to test for spark and fuel pressure so hopefully I’ll eliminate one of these and be able to drill down to the ultimate issue.
From the way she describes it I’m 90% sure it’s electrical but I want to know for sure. I HATE just throwing parts at things. I want to know what failed and hopefully why.
 
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