No Way!! Has anyone ever seen this happen?

[Phishin]

I discovered why the new motor wouldn't run.....and also found out why my old motor fried. This is in regards to my 2000 Altima.

I suspected there was a problem with the timing when I put the new motor in....because it had fuel, spark, and good compression. And at the end of a 5 second crank/starting attempt, it would hiccup just once.

How can the timing be off? You can't adjust the timing and the dizzy only goes in one way....

Took the dizzy cap off and look at the rotor. There is supposed to be a set screw that holds the rotor in place. It wasn't there.....and upon further inspection, there was no hole/threads showing where the screw was to go into. I popped the rotor off, and it had somehow twisted on dizzy shaft!!! There is a flat area on the dizzy shaft and a corresponding flat area on the rotor to ensure proper orientation, and somehow it had STILL TWISTED. My guess is that it was between 40-60 degrees off.

Who knows how long this was occurring. I'm assuming that having the timing advanced or retarded that much, would have caused all sorts of pinging and pre-detonation and caused everything to run hot and maybe burn the valves or cause the head gasket to blow. What do you think?

The old dizzy had to go in my new motor, and this is why I couldn't get the new motor started and I believe why my old motor fried. I put the rotor on correctly, threaded in a temporary set screw, and she fired right up.

Tomorrow, everything will be buttoned up, including a new rotor and cap.

Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening?

[StanzaDescendant]

I've heard of the set screw backing out and causing all sorts of issues. It doesn't happen often but I have heard of it in the past.

[Phishin]

I'd like your opinions please. Thank you in advance.

My old engine in my 2000 Altima is toast....according to my mechanic. Is it possible to blow a head gasket or burn the valves or anything else catastrophic if the set-screw backed out of the rotor, and the rotor spun on the dizzy shaft, causing the timing to be off say 40-80 degrees?

Would having the KA24DE's timing this far out of wack, cause the engine to fail?

Of course, right before the car died, it was barely running and when I pulled in my driveway, there was white smoke pouring out of the hood. I think it's a blown head gasket. No compression in 2 cylinders (1 and 4), Cylinder 2 has 80psi, and Cylinder 3 had 140psi.

Could this set-screw backing out, which caused the engine's timing to be WAY OFF, caused this type of engine failure?

Sorry this is so long...and thanks for your advice/input.