What Next - No Start

[Scott Fisher]

--- "Bhatti, Mohammed" <Mohammed.Bhatti at si-intl.com>
wrote:

> [...] since it was running
> fine before the cap/rotor change.

Then that has to be what's wrong.  There's a 99.999%
probability that, no matter how carefully you think
you looked, you STILL got the wires in the wrong order
or the wrong orientation.  (Ask me how I know...)

I once had a 4cyl car in which a previous owner had
installed the distributor 180 degrees out of phase.  I
replaced the plug wires all at once (instead of one by
one) and the car would NOT start, because I replaced
them according to the picture in the manual, not the
way the PO had installed it.  Drove me crazy (because
with that car's firing order, it would run on TWO
cylinders if I wired it BACKWARDS).  Who is it with
the dot-sig that says good judgment comes from
experience, which often comes from bad judgment? :-)

Here's something I'm not sure you've already done:
make sure the engine is in the right position to fire
the #1 cylinder.  (If I recall, there's a notch on the
cam pulley that lines up with the top of the cylinder
head, but check your Bentley to make sure.)  You can
also make sure that both cam lobes of #1 are pointed
away from the lifter -- that ensures that the valves
are closed, which only happens during the compression
and power phases, and since ignition happens in the
middle of that, the direction the rotor is pointing
will be the #1 cylinder.

Then take off the cap and note the approximate
orientation of the distributor rotor -- where the
firing end of the rotor is pointing when the engine
expects it to be firing #1.

Then install your plug wires so that the wire at the
position to which the rotor is pointing goes to the #1
cylinder.

And only THEN do you wire up the rest of the plugs,
making sure you do so in the correct rotation (CW or
CCW) for the car you're wiring.

> I haven't checked spark yet since I'm not sure how
> this is done.  Any ideas?

Here are three ways to check for spark (well, there's
a fourth, which is to hold the plug wire with pliers
you think are insulated and then lean against the
chassis to close the circuit thereby sending the
firing voltage coursing through your body making you
jerk around like a zombie on speed, but that hurts):

Get a fairly long screwdriver with a plastic handle.
Insert the metal end into the clip of the plug wire.
Crank the car with the screwdriver resting NEAR the
head -- not quite touching.

There are also nifty little spark-testers which are
basically spark plugs with alligator clips soldered
onto the threaded end; you clip them to an engine
ground, stick the wire on them, and you can see (and
hear) whether there's a spark.

But my favorite way is to stick a timing light on the
#1 plug wire and see whether the light flashes.  This
has the added advantage of letting you see, while the
car turns over, whether #1 is flashing when the timing
mark on the pulley comes up.  (Assuming your car HAS a
timing mark on the pulley...)

> Could the actual distributor be bad and how do you
> pull this and can I rebuild it?

Don't do that.  If it was running before you changed
something, then the thing you changed is what's wrong,
99.999% of the time.  Taking out the distributor will
NOT solve your existing problem, it will only make it
more confusing.

> I'm thinking if this might take me too long I might
> donate the car.  Seems a shame since it only has
150K
> on clock.

Make sure what the distributor thinks is #1 and what
the engine thinks is #1 are the same.  Make sure the
wires are connected in the proper orientation.  Make
sure there is spark at the engine's end of the plug
wires.  That should get you to start.

If it doesn't, THEN you begin to investigate things
you didn't change.

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon




__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com