Ignition HELP! [solved]

[spanky55amg]

Ok, this might be long but bare with me, I want to give as much info as I can.

-replaced carb.
-still had drivability issues.
-figured I had air and fuel, spark
-then it wouldn't start
-replaced dist with rebuild dist
-timing off by at least 20-30 deg.
-low idle like I had a huge cam but bumping the throttle was pretty snappy.
-pulled dist to retime.
-after several restabs, I cannot get the truck to start. I'm not even getting back fires.

The lack of backfires leads me to believe that the coil is not getting power. I would think that even if I were 180°, I would get backfires.

True or false? Help!?

 

[4WDKC]

Instead of relying on back fire, get a spark tester, this will also help you determine if you have a weak coil/bad wires. Do you have a timing light? So you had it running, removed the dist, to try to correct small issue and now it wont start at all? My guess is it was 1 tooth off before and when you pulled the dist. you now made it more off. If you pulled the dist. up fast when removing it you could have spun the oil pump causing the shafts to not line up and be reposition the rotor to drop in... Time to start all over turn it over to TDC, get long screw driver to turn oil pump to where it needs to be to allow dist./rotor to point at #1 cylinder and drop in.

 

[spanky55amg]

The dist is top to bottom rebuilt. It was running till I tried to correct the timing from the previous owner/builder. Timing light is an adjustable type, hence how I know it was about 30 degrees off.

I do not have a spark tester, I guess thats next on the testers to buy.

I set the distributor where the cam gears lined up and that the rotor was lined up around 5 o'clock, but the oil pump drive shaft was not correct. I spun the crank by hand till the dist. sat in the drive shaft. So at TDC, the rotor is close to where it needs to be.

THAT SAID, I could be 180 off and completely understand that. The electrical connections are tight with the new dist. I could have put the battery wire back in and pushed the coil connector up and thought that I was 180 off and restabbed the dist but in reality, that battery wire connector could have pushed up and not made contact.

Just seems weird that I would have thought that I still would have had a back fire if I were 180 off. If that is not true, thats the first thing I am trying tonight beside verifying the coil has power. Is the coil battery wire hot at all times or only during ignition on? (Id look at the wiring diag, but its blocked at work.)

 

[4WDKC]

The dist is top to bottom rebuilt. It was running till I tried to correct the timing from the previous owner/builder. Timing light is an adjustable type, hence how I know it was about 30 degrees off.

I do not have a spark tester, I guess thats next on the testers to buy.

I set the distributor where the cam gears lined up and that the rotor was lined up around 5 o'clock, but the oil pump drive shaft was not correct. I spun the crank by hand till the dist. sat in the drive shaft. So at TDC, the rotor is close to where it needs to be.

THAT SAID, I could be 180 off and completely understand that. The electrical connections are tight with the new dist. I could have put the battery wire back in and pushed the coil connector up and thought that I was 180 off and restabbed the dist but in reality, that battery wire connector could have pushed up and not made contact.

Just seems weird that I would have thought that I still would have had a back fire if I were 180 off. If that is not true, thats the first thing I am trying tonight beside verifying the coil has power. Is the coil battery wire hot at all times or only during ignition on? (Id look at the wiring diag, but its blocked at work.)

You turned the crank to line up with oil pump shaft? Without the dist. the oil pump turns independently of the crank so there is no correlation to the dist. being right or 180 out just because it dropped in. The coil is only hot when cranking and key on, I use this a trigger for ecm relay on efi. I would start over and turn the oil pump to about the 4 o clock position before dropping in the dist. This will ensure you are either right or 180* out.

 

[spanky55amg]

-TDC
-Stabbed dist with rotor at about 5 o'clock.
-- oil pump shaft is not seated
-Turned crank by hand till oil pump shaft sat.

since the dist is mated to the crank shaft at this point in time, the dist rotor and the crank are meshed. So if you turn the crank by hand, the rotor spins where it should, and when the oil pump shaft and dist line up, the dist falls the extra 1/4" into place.

Its hard for me to get up on the engine and look down the hole to verify the oil pump shaft is at the position it needs to be. (I have had 3 gut surgeries this summer and the truck is lifted).



Im going to make sure the coil has power first. Then stab the dist 180 degrees if it has power. It ran 5 minutes up to me trying to retime the dist b/c it was that far off from the previous owner. Maybe Im just going crazy b/c I want this bitch to run and run correctly for once.

 

[gpmorgan]

You can put the #1plug wire anywhere you want as long as the rotor is pointing at it on #1 compression stroke and your wires will reach where they need to. Might save the trouble of trying to look down the dist hole.

 

[spanky55amg]

You can put the #1plug wire anywhere you want as long as the rotor is pointing at it on #1 compression stroke and your wires will reach where they need to. Might save the trouble of trying to look down the dist hole.

I honest to god thought about doing that. I thought it would be kinda ******, but the truck is mine and technically I would be the only one to know.

 

[gpmorgan]

Yeah, I've done it before too. Some time's it's a bitch to get it all lined up. Just drop it in, get #1up on compression and see where it points and wire it up. Easy.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

Stop turning the crank to move to oil pump drive . That shaft will turn with a long regular screw driver. Put your engine on tdc and put your distributor on #1 in the air look how the oil pump drive looks on the distributor and set the oil pump accordingly. Then stab that sum itch in there. If you gotta play leap frog with the wires so be it. But stop turns the engine to meet the oil pump turn the oil pump to meet the engine.

 

[Georgeb]

Stop turning the crank to move to oil pump drive . That shaft will turn with a long regular screw driver. Put your engine on tdc and put your distributor on #1 in the air look how the oil pump drive looks on the distributor and set the oil pump accordingly. Then stab that sum itch in there. If you gotta play leap frog with the wires so be it. But stop turns the engine to meet the oil pump turn the oil pump to meet the engine.

What he said^
You will want to be close to the correct orientaion so your vacuum advance doesn't hit stuff when you try to dial it in anyway.

 

[gpmorgan]

What he said^
You will want to be close to the correct orientaion so your vacuum advance doesn't hit stuff when you try to dial it in anyway.

Yon know, that crazy vacuum advance didn't cross my mind. I haven't used one in 25 plus years. Yeah it needs to be somewhat close or you may not be able to time it.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

that crazy vacuum advance . I haven't used one in 25 plus years.

Just a waste of space, them things are, if you ask me.

 

[Georgeb]

Just a waste of space, them things are, if you ask me.

Probably true in some cases and when connected to ported vacuum it doesn't do what it should but on manifold vacuum it can prove to be beneficial.

 

[spanky55amg]

Well... **** it for the night. Im tired of climbing up and down and I'd rather put another hole in my head before I even ask the wife to turn the key to verify if Im getting spark.

I put it at TDC and it looked close enough to where it should have been, but didnt start. So then I thought it was 180 off and asked her just to put her hand over the hole to make sure she felt pressure..................... I might as well as tape a balloon to the cylinder head, or called the dog over.

anyways, I did verify 12 volts at the coil. I put the timing gun on and verified the coil is sending a spark. I moved the spark plug wires over one place over both ways and still nothing.
I just need to get this som'bitch in time. **** me, wheres a FI engine, a drink, and a wife that isnt complaining?

 

[Georgeb]

Good luck with the wife part! When you get back to it try checking the timing while cranking it. If you have spark it should flash your light and give you an idea where you are.

You may also want to replace
Your wife with this.
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/li...co4MQC4HlS5qEVViDJ1EjtS48lmlrigEaAu-sEALw_wcB