Anyone logged in right now that can help me with a problem i am having with my Ford 2.3 Cobra OMC Stern Drive system. I have a firing order of 1342 but do not know which number corresponds with which peg on the distributor cap. Can anyone enlighten me???

Thanks

aje121265

 

Take the number 1 spark plug out, and stick your thumb over the spark plug hole. Have a friend bump the starter repeatedly When you feel your thumb being blown off the hole because of compression, yell stop so the friend stops bumping the starter, then the rotor of the distributor should be pointing roughly toward #1. Have fun!

 

Hi, and welcome to FTE! Have you looked closely at the cap, #1 is often marked right on top. If not, the first thing is to locate #1, and then just go around the cap clockwise in the firing order from there. To locate #1, remove the cap and the #1 spark plug, and turn the engine over slowly, by hand if possible, if not, by bumping the starter rather than cranking it continously while holding a figer over the plug hole to feel for compression. When you feel it start to build, stick something long and thin into the hole to act as a probe so that as the piston comes up it will push the probe up and you can see when the piston reaches TDC, as it will start to go back down after TDC. Some people advocate using a screwdriver for the probe, but I don't like to stick metal that could gouge the piston in there, so I would look for something made of plastic or hard rubber, I have used a piece of fuel hose in the past. You can play with it a little to get it right on TDC. If you have easy to see timing marks, then you can just line them up for TDC, but I don't know what you have on that boat. Once you are there, at TDC on the compression stroke, just look to see what peg on the cap that the rotor is pointing to and that should be #1. If you don't check for compression first as I described, then you could be on the exhaust stroke and your timing will be 180 degrees off. Hope this helps. -TD