Me again (the brain damaged one) 82 collector edition. OK I put the engine light problem to the side for now, because the ecm still says NO trouble codes. So I went ahead and tried to adjust timing, with the by pass wire disconnected. When I put the motor on a light, the timing mark was no where in sight. So I put the motor at TDC and checked the rotor location and it was at #8 terminal. So with car running i tried to set timing 6 deg btdc and as I got closer to the mark .the car ran even worse.
All plug wires are correct and the injectors are spraying. So I am back to standing in my garage with my finger jambed up nose totally lost and not sure which step to try next. Went as far as taken out the distrib. and turning it 180 degrees ( Had a trans am that ran rough and that was the prob.) Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

take finger out of nose .dis connect battery to clear codes.check to see if you have the distributer in correctly.turn the motor over till it comes up on number one .if the distributer is in correctly and it runs that bad with the check engine light ,i would think maybe your ecm is bad .did the car run okay when you bought it and now it runs bad or you bought it not running right. what color wire bypass did you disconnect?

 

Do you have the 4 wire connector to the dist?
Unplugged.
When you say #8 position, are you sure the wire goes to the #8 cyl?
Verify the #1 wire from plug to dist.
It can full ya.

 

OK I was told the ecm is good and the car ran rough when I got it . I disconnected the tan wire next to the distrib.
I checked all the wires going from the distrib. to the plugs and the firing order is correct.I didn't disconnect the 4 wire connector.To my knowledge the car will not run with that unplugged. Now if I turn the distrib. counter-clockwise the motor runs better but the timing mark is NO where in sight and lose power in mid range. So i can not set the timing correctly.

 

That is the ECM control over the timing.
Needs to be unplugged.

Even if it was plugged, the timing should be close to the unplugged state.
If indeed the plug wires are right, pick-up in dist sounds off.

 

If the pick-up is off would it cause all the symptoms(i.e. can not set proper timing, running rough, and check engine light)? and how can you tell ? or is it just replacing?

 

brown wire that you have disconnected is the wire that you disconnect for setting timing.i would check the plugwires again.it sounds like your timing is off .is timing chain on right ?is the distributer in right ?set everything on number one .

 

Ur right the EST brown wire. :o

 

Ok I have check the plug wires, and I have played with the distrib making sure it is set on number 1 on compression stroke. As for the timing chain I dunno, the motor was rebuilt 7k ago I am hoping it isn't the problem. I really don't want to tear the top end apart but I really don't think it is the timing chain not enough symptoms for that.

 

most likely not the chain but you dont know what the other guy did or did not do .if you are shure that you are on number one ,where is the timing mark ?when they rebuilt motor did they replace the balancer?

 

That is true ,unfortunately I don't know what the guy did to the motor. I broke one of my own rules ,not to buy someone elses projects. But to be 100% I will pull the number one plug and check tdc. As for the balancer I don't think it has been replaced and but I have heard of 2 piece balancers slipping but that is in high reving motors

 

Quick old way to see;

Put motor at whatever the basic advance timing should be
Verify the rotor is approaching #1, replace cap
Pull #1 wire/off the dist and loosely place in cap so you can see/hear it spark
Turn on key
Rotate dist back and for till the spark happens.

 

harmonic balancers also get old and move .i am wondering if you are 180 off on the distributer?i have bought other peoples problems .when you get it fixed you will have a lot of fun .

 

Ok will try the old school tommorow and i will get back to you. Thanx for your help I hope your on tomm. for the results.

Terry82, I thought that too with the distrib. but I am missing half the hair on my arm after a couple good back fires and I hope your right and it is an easy fix so I can have some with it cause right now my diesel is looking pretty good again

 

I had the exactly the same problem with mine. I finaly put the light on #2 wire and the timing marks lined up. I set the timing and it run just fine. Don't ask me how or why, I still can't figure it out, but it worked.
Dave

 

http://www.setyourtiming.com/http://www.setyourtiming.com/ try this site

 

Interesting problem. I'm sure you have it right but number one cylinder is the front one on the driver side. When looking at the distributor from the front of the car the number one is at about the 5 oclock position. I hope your chain is on right its not to hard to line up the dots on the gears but you never know. As for the balancer slipping...maybe...I haven't seen it on these engines.

You said in your first post the rotor was on the number 8. Thats just next door....off by one.

I'll throw this out there. I've never seen the EST/ESC module in the distributor cause this but could it be fried? The bypass switch is built into it. Could it be stuck on open? So when you disconnect the tan the switch in the module is suppose to bypass the advance circuit but its not. It could also be your code 12. The only test I can think off under your circumstances would be to disconnect the tan find the timing mark give her a bit of gas and see if the mark moves with higher rpm....if it does the advance is stuck to on. BTW my wires going to that module were damaged inside the cap area and caused my months of work.

One more thing the brown wire goes back through the big harness to the ECM and plugs into 424 on the ECM "HEI bypass". It only tells the ECM you have bypassed it does not perform the bypass action.

Pictures would be nice. Can you take any and post them.

 

Ok guys it's me again. Sorry I haven't been online but I suffered another set back, starter not cranking.It just stopped when I was trying to set the timing. Probably just a loose wire or something (One of the great things when buying someones else project) To quote Forest Gump" Life is like a box of chocalate you never know what your gonna get.....under the hood" I wish to thank every one who is helping and will keep you guys informed ,hopefully this weekend or sooner. The wife is demanding me time