problem seating distributor properly
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Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: South Orange NJ
I do appreciate this help. I am getting a little frustrated here. I haven't worried about timing yet, because I wanted to establish that I was getting spark first. What I get when I put the timing light on the new wire from the new coil is an intermittent flash while cranking. I assumed that I would see a solid light. Am I wrong yet again? I pulled the wiring harness clip from the coil and put it back on to check the connection and it feels solid.
In looking forward to the timing, I can't find the marks on the engine anywhere. There is a bunch of rust, but my fear is that the guys who swapped the engine before may have left off something. Then of course I have the fuel leak somewhere on the carb to deal with.
In looking forward to the timing, I can't find the marks on the engine anywhere. There is a bunch of rust, but my fear is that the guys who swapped the engine before may have left off something. Then of course I have the fuel leak somewhere on the carb to deal with.
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Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Denver Metro Area, CO
The distributor instructs the ignition module to fire the coil at what it thinks are the right times.
The exact mechanics of how this works depends on the ignition system in place, but that's what happens.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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From: Virginia
The light is supposed to blink. The coil sends a spark for each sparkplug individually, and the rotor under the cap points this same spark to the correct sparkplug wire in the cap. You will get 4 sparks for every revolution of the engine, even though it's a 8 cylinder. The engine has to go around twice before all the cylinders fire, and thus that is the problem, you can be off 180 when you go figuring the position of the engine.
You can crawl underneath the front of the truck, and take something and clean the damper off. There should be little marks on it and usually there are some deep cuts too. I have found you can get to it better from underneath.
There should be on top of the damper a single pointer somewhere.
You are going to have to do the valve cover off thing, or the finger over the #1 sparkplug hole routine to get started in the right direction.
You can crawl underneath the front of the truck, and take something and clean the damper off. There should be little marks on it and usually there are some deep cuts too. I have found you can get to it better from underneath.
There should be on top of the damper a single pointer somewhere.
You are going to have to do the valve cover off thing, or the finger over the #1 sparkplug hole routine to get started in the right direction.
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Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 151
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From: South Orange NJ
Thanks guys,
With the help of my brother in law I got it running today. She sounds great, but I need to replace some carb gaskets to stop a fuel leak. It worked just like everyone said. We rolled the engine to TDC, reset the distributor, and she fired up. We may be a little off on timing, but until I get the fuel leak beat I can't do much else.
With the help of my brother in law I got it running today. She sounds great, but I need to replace some carb gaskets to stop a fuel leak. It worked just like everyone said. We rolled the engine to TDC, reset the distributor, and she fired up. We may be a little off on timing, but until I get the fuel leak beat I can't do much else.
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