on 2/23/2003 7:32 PM, John Lagnese wrote: > More strangeness, the car only runs poorly with the plug wires reversed. I > even took the timing belt covers back off only to find everything is fine. > All marks line up nicely. The rotor is in the #1 position. Not even a peep > with the wires on correctly.
I would double check that the engine really is at TDC for the #1 cylinder. Confirm that both the notch on the pulley as well as the TDC mark on the flywheel (usually indicated by a little "0". IIRC, the notches on the pulleys line up at #4 TDC as well. If the flywheel has ever been removed from the car and wasn't reinstalled properly, the TDC mark may not line up. If this is an 8v engine, you'll then want to confirm that the distributor is also at the TDC index (again, this should also be indicated by the notch on the intermediate shaft pulley, but may not if the pulley was ever removed to replace seals, etc.) Then, line up the cam by using the inner mark on the front edge of the engine, according to the manual, depending on the engine type. Oh, and make sure the dist. cap is on properly and that the plug wires are connected in the correct order. (1-3-4-2.) When you tension the belt, be sure that things don't slip out of alignment. Chris
