alright i have done anything and everything to the car. the only thing that seems to take and effect is the distributor seems to find it's way 180 out, here's what happens. I put a new reman distributor on it, points are gapped right everything's good with it, I put the motor at top dead center and put the distributor in with the rotor pointing straight towards the No.1 spark plug tube, it slides in, i put the cap on, wires are in the correct firing order ( checked 3 times). Right when i do that, it fires up for a breif second, and as long as i keep revving it, it will run. But right when i go to put it at idle, it dies. Then when i try to start it again, it backfires out of the carburator (2 foot tall flames). I put the motor at top dead center and take off the distributor cap, and low and behold, it's 180 out again. Does this mean the timing chain is stretched? can anything else cause this? I think this is the problem. Doc?

ksjo923@hotmail.com

Replace the condenser. Buck says it's taht

Your rotor needs to point to number one when the timing mark is at top dead center after the intake valve (on number one cyl) closes. when you see it 180 out it could be on the exhust stroke.


slantsix@netzero.net

An easy way to check the timing chain is to pop-off the distributor cap and crank the engine while you watch the rotor. If the chain / gears have failed, you will see little movement. ( it will move in a "choppy" motion.)
Even better is to remove the valve cover and watch the valve overlap event on #1 cylinder, watch where the exhaust valve closes and the intake opens, this should be happening right at TDC *Exhaust* for cylinder #1. The distributor should be installed to fire cylinder #6 at this point.
(TDC exhaust on #1 is 180 degrees away from TDC *Compression* on #6)

If you do see "choppy" or uneven distributor movement, also take a close look at the nylon distributor gear. (also the cam gear that it rides on)
What I am getting at is that timing chain / T. gear failure is unlikely. You can check the t. chain / gears by seeing how much "slop" there is when you rotate the engine forward & backwards in the chain's slack. Do this test right over TDC / timing tab and watch the rotor, no rotor movement for more then 20 degrees of crank motion is a problem but even streched chains still run and idle as long as they have not "jumped" a few teeth.

I once had a SL6 which would not hold it's timing / distributor position,
drove me nuts untill I discovered that the cam gear was missing a few teeth.
DD

The Distributor rotates at 1/2 of engine speed. So at TDC one revolution, you'll be at the top of compression, and pointing at #1...and on the next revolution you'll be at the top of the exhaust stroke, and pointing 180 out. It sounds like you installed the Dist. 180 out. It'll actually run (sort of) some times if this is the case. Best bet, pull the Dist. Get the engine at TDC of the compression stroke on #1, then reinstall the dist. If you're plug wires are long enough, you can just rotate them 180 on the cap, and see if it runs...cheap and dirty test.


savant83@hotmail.com

I had this porblem once and the Timing chain was off one tooth. Also the #1 plugged was gased real bad. I changed the plugs and It fired right up.I had worked on this for four days and was ready to throw the car away. Good thing I didn't.

moparitus@cox-internet.com

I agree - I think it's 180 off. The distributor should be installed with the rotor pointing more or less directly at the #1 plug wire (and with the #1 cylinder on the compression stroke), and the timing mark at TDC.

A quick way to test this is to partially pull the distributor out and then rotate the rotor 180 degrees (where it points basically to the back of the car). Now put your distributor back in. If your engine now runs - then that was the problem.

I would do this with the air cleaner on the car, just in case...



The trick to avoid this in the future is to remove the distributor cap *before* you remove the *old* distributor and use a remote starter to align the engine to TDC with the rotor pointing at the #1 cap tower. Then you just pop in the new distributor with the rotor pointing to the same place.

Trust me - I learned this one by painful experience.

k


klt@kevinleethomason.com