I have a 1998 Chevrolet C1500 Pickup with a 5.7 Vortec engine. It has appox. 108k on the odometer. I was driving along and it shuts down in the middle of the road,with very little warning with the exception of a couple of sputters. I tried cranking it over and it acts as if it has jumped timing(kicking against the starter and backfiring though the throttle body and exhaust). I had it towed in and the tow truck driver said it was probably the distributor gear. My question is has anyone else experienced this on one of those trucks,and how expensive of a repair was it? I'm kinda lost when it comes to these computerized ignitions. Any help and suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks:confused:

try a new distributor cap first, they're known for internal tracking.
your symtoms sound like this is your problem.

I'm with Dave, probably the cap. I had a gear strip and it just quits. Since the distributor no longer turns there is no kicking back or sputtering, just no spark period. The gear repair is far more expensive then a cap/rotor replacement. Maybe the driver was looking for some easy money :noway:

I tried the distributor cap and rotor and i got it to start and run,but it's definately missing and it has a P1345 code in it now. Would a crankshaft sensor cause this? Thanks

I could not find that code in my 96 manual, must be something new since the 96 model year.

Thats a code for crankshaft pos sensor........