Reinstalling the distributor
Discussion
The rotor arm needs to end up in the correct orientation relative to the crank position. The easiest way to do this is to turn the crank until it is at TDC on the firing stroke for a cylinder. The rotor arm should end up pointing to the right terminal for that cylinder. Note that the distributor shaft will turn as it engages with the drive gear so you will need to allow for that.
Which car? If you remove oil filler cap can you see the rockers on no 1 cylinder? If not easy job to take off the cam covers or rocker covers?
If yes rock crankshaft back and forward until both rockers on no 1 are not touching the camshafts or rockers.
If you turn the engine over you should see inlet valve rocker going down for the suck then the valve closes and both valves are shut when the spark plug fires, then the exhaust valve will open to allow the burnt gases to exit, suck squeeze bang fart!
As said above as you insert the distributor’s gears allow for the sideways movement of the distributor as the gears mesh. Place cap over distributor to check it is pointing to the no1 cylinder.
I assume timing is set to no1 cylinder but check for your car. Has the engine been apart, do you know timing chain has been assembled correctly
If yes rock crankshaft back and forward until both rockers on no 1 are not touching the camshafts or rockers.
If you turn the engine over you should see inlet valve rocker going down for the suck then the valve closes and both valves are shut when the spark plug fires, then the exhaust valve will open to allow the burnt gases to exit, suck squeeze bang fart!
As said above as you insert the distributor’s gears allow for the sideways movement of the distributor as the gears mesh. Place cap over distributor to check it is pointing to the no1 cylinder.
I assume timing is set to no1 cylinder but check for your car. Has the engine been apart, do you know timing chain has been assembled correctly
88S1 said:
Perfect, thanks for the help. So if the crank is TDC, is there a simple way of knowing which piston is up and in the firing stroke. Or is that a matter of taking the plugs out and seeing which is up, and pot luck if you’re 180 degrees out.
One way is to put your thumb over the plug hole as you bar th4e engine over so you can feel when it is coming up on compression, then use a probe to fnd when it's at exactly TDC. Or if you have the rocker covers off, you can watch the rockers. If you know the crank pulley timing reference marks are accurate you can also use those to tell when you're reach TDC on the reference cylinder (usually #1, but make sure you know which physical one it is).Although this isn't rocket science it is quite a precise procedure. It would be best to read up on it and make sure you know what you're doing rather than just take a swing at it, because if this goes wrong you're going to have a nightmare getting the engine to start.
Mercdriver said:
Which car? If you remove oil filler cap can you see the rockers on no 1 cylinder? If not easy job to take off the cam covers or rocker covers?
If yes rock crankshaft back and forward until both rockers on no 1 are not touching the camshafts or rockers.
If you turn the engine over you should see inlet valve rocker going down for the suck then the valve closes and both valves are shut when the spark plug fires, then the exhaust valve will open to allow the burnt gases to exit, suck squeeze bang fart!
As said above as you insert the distributor’s gears allow for the sideways movement of the distributor as the gears mesh. Place cap over distributor to check it is pointing to the no1 cylinder.
I assume timing is set to no1 cylinder but check for your car. Has the engine been apart, do you know timing chain has been assembled correctly
Thanks for that. It’s an S1 with the 2.8i cologne engine, and has gears not a chain. I made sure the marks on the gears were aligned during reassembly. Sure the rockers will come off easy enough, but haven’t bolted the plenum on yet, so may as well do it now and set and install the distributor whilst access is simple. If yes rock crankshaft back and forward until both rockers on no 1 are not touching the camshafts or rockers.
If you turn the engine over you should see inlet valve rocker going down for the suck then the valve closes and both valves are shut when the spark plug fires, then the exhaust valve will open to allow the burnt gases to exit, suck squeeze bang fart!
As said above as you insert the distributor’s gears allow for the sideways movement of the distributor as the gears mesh. Place cap over distributor to check it is pointing to the no1 cylinder.
I assume timing is set to no1 cylinder but check for your car. Has the engine been apart, do you know timing chain has been assembled correctly
suck squeeze bang fart!, that make me chuckle.
GreenV8S said:
88S1 said:
Perfect, thanks for the help. So if the crank is TDC, is there a simple way of knowing which piston is up and in the firing stroke. Or is that a matter of taking the plugs out and seeing which is up, and pot luck if you’re 180 degrees out.
One way is to put your thumb over the plug hole as you bar th4e engine over so you can feel when it is coming up on compression, then use a probe to fnd when it's at exactly TDC. Or if you have the rocker covers off, you can watch the rockers. If you know the crank pulley timing reference marks are accurate you can also use those to tell when you're reach TDC on the reference cylinder (usually #1, but make sure you know which physical one it is).Although this isn't rocket science it is quite a precise procedure. It would be best to read up on it and make sure you know what you're doing rather than just take a swing at it, because if this goes wrong you're going to have a nightmare getting the engine to start.
Reminds me of next door neighbour, high up in police force, owned a boat in nearby harbour. Changed oil and did not seal filter properly so bilge pump dumped oil overboard.
Not to be stopped they found an old BMC 1.5 litre Diesel engine in a yard that had not turned for about 15 years. Changed over ancillaries and it run but only just.
Anyway they asked me for advice and asked if they had timed the injection pump when refitted. No they said been told by local fishermen that diesels could not be timed wrongly.
Took injector pipe off no 1 and 4 cylinders turned engine to top dead centre and expected fuel to leak at cylinder one, oops cylinder 4. While I was doing this all the worthy old fishermen leaning on railings , pipe in mouth and stating you cannot time a diesel wrong.
Took off injector pump turned engine 180 degrees reinstalled pump and presto engine ran like a diesel much to amusement of all the fishermen.
It is not rocket science if you think about it logically, hence suck squeeze bang fart!
Not to be stopped they found an old BMC 1.5 litre Diesel engine in a yard that had not turned for about 15 years. Changed over ancillaries and it run but only just.
Anyway they asked me for advice and asked if they had timed the injection pump when refitted. No they said been told by local fishermen that diesels could not be timed wrongly.
Took injector pipe off no 1 and 4 cylinders turned engine to top dead centre and expected fuel to leak at cylinder one, oops cylinder 4. While I was doing this all the worthy old fishermen leaning on railings , pipe in mouth and stating you cannot time a diesel wrong.
Took off injector pump turned engine 180 degrees reinstalled pump and presto engine ran like a diesel much to amusement of all the fishermen.
It is not rocket science if you think about it logically, hence suck squeeze bang fart!
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