CatmanFS

I recently had to remove the distributor to nail down a coolant leak under the bolts that hold the little bracket that hold the Ignition coil and I'm guessing some piece of EGR equipment. I put it all back together the way it was, but now the car wont start. At first trying to start it made a nasty sound, and also a little white smoke seemed to be coming out from the distributor, or something from that area.

I took it back apart, checked for burns/melting, found none, and figured I had put it in 180 degrees off, but when I turned it around and hooked it back up, I knew what I heard was each cylinder doing nothing, and on the second half of the cycle it was backfiring, so I knew the original was correct and reversed it back. Now, I'm concerned about the timing, but the bolt to hold down the distributor is so hard to reach with the ignition coil bracket in the way I wanted to just hook it up without bolting it down.

I tried this, went to start it, and had no luck, adjusted the dist. cap a few times, nothing. Seems like it's not really trying to fire, so I was wondering if that ignition coil needs to be bolted down to get a good ground or something like that.

I remember the angle the dist. was turned originally, and want to just get it close and adjust it until it's running smoothly. Any suggestions appreciated.

CatmanFS

Ok so ill probably just adjust the timing the right way, but i havr another issue. When im trying to start the car, if i run the starter for more than just a few seconds that mysterious white smoke starts back up, and also seems to br coming from the battery terminal ground wire that hooks to frame. I didnt cook it, but it was warm to the touch. Ive never noticed this before the issue with the distributor/coil pack. Im wondering if theres any specific issue that would cause the wires and such to heat up and smoke like that. Never noticed it before, and im just thinking maybe theres some bad connection or something but ive checked all the connections and everything looks fine. Not sure what the problem is.

CatmanFS

Alright, so I did the procedure with finding the compression stroke on the 1 cylinder to adjust the distributor correctly. I know that trying to start it a few different times probably flooded the cylinders a bit, but it backfired very loudly, enough to not want to do it again. So my new question is: How do I get the fuel out of the cylinders to avoid another backfire like that. I pinned open the throttle body to allow air to move in and hopefully allow the fuel to evaporate, but I know there are other cylinders that may be closed and such. I was thinking about moving the timing mark to the 0 degree notch but I'm not sure which cylinders are open or where would be a good place to open and leave it for each of the cylinders.

CatmanFS

General idea I've got now is to move the timing notch on the balancer to the 0 degree notch, shoot some compressed air into the open throttle, let sit for a while, shoot a little more air, and turn the balancer over again to the 0 degree mark, repeat the same procedure. The idea is to hopefully push some clean air into whatever intake valve is open to help keep the air moving and see if I can evap the fuel more quickly that way. I'm going to see if this helps/works and try again. Any comments suggestions are appreciated.

someone972

iTrader: (2)

To answer the original question, the coil does need to be grounded somehow. You can attach a thick aligator clip from it to ground and it will work without being bolted down, as long as you get good metal to metal contact on the clip. As far as the engine flooding, I've heard some people have success removing the spark plugs to help it evap, but it is a pain on these engines to access.

CatmanFS

Thanks for the reply. I think I've got it set correctly, just working on getting that extra fuel out of there. I'm wondering at what point of turning the crank by hand does each intake valve open completely. I could use the mark on the balancer, but if I'm not sure when an intake would be completely open. I could sit here turning it a little, shooting air until i don't smell gas anymore, but if I don't know when the intakes open I might not get it all.

CatmanFS

I kind of figured it would be easier to do it that way, but I've elected to just pull the plugs and let it sit overnight. I'll post an update tomorrow. Hopefully I didn't fry any of the electrical stuff, but I think I'm ok because if it backfired like that. Spark is going through to the plugs. I didn't notice any significant melting/burning, just a little around the cap and rotor but it should be fine.

CatmanFS

Alright, I did the timing correctly. Removed the #1 spark plug, turned the crank until the notch was at 0 degrees, moved the rotor between the 1 and 8 contacts. I pulled the plugs and let it vent out overnight just to be safe, stuck them back in this morning and it fired right up. I noticed it sounded much louder than before, so I went around to check it out and found this!

Needless to say I'll be more careful in the future.

Joe Tag

iTrader: (4)

Apparently a little more than a backfire. Glad that's all it did.

CatmanFS

Yeah trying to start it a couple times flooded the chambers. When i turned it over by hand a few times it cycled through and let the gas run down into the cat. The reverse distributor sparked when an exhaust valve was open and boom, free side exhaust haha