After removing and replacing my distributor I am having trouble getting the car to run properly, and when it is running it makes a brutal knocking/metallic sound. Some background... Motor is a 350 bored .30 over nothing special, built last year with around 3000 miles on the rebuild. The car was running 100% before I removed the distributor.

I have brought the motor to TDC #! cyl. and put the distributor in with the rotor pointing to #1 on the cap and I am still getting a deiseling kind of sound on startup. It also only seems to want to run if I retard the timing by turning the distributor by hand, but again when it gets close to running it sounds terrible.


I am worried about letting run for any length of time with that problem in fear of doing damage to the motor. I'm also worried I might have already done damage to that valves or something.

Any help/advice would really be appreciated.... thanks...

 

You need to make sure you put the distributor in at TDC of the compression stroke, not the exaust stroke. I bet you have it 180* off.

 

I know that's a common mistake... luckily I didn't make it this time. I've double checked about ten times. Thanks.... anything else?

 

Then check to see it the wires are on correctly. You may have switched a few around, or be off by one or two.

 

No. 5 & 7 is commonly, very, very commonly switched by people w/o even realizing it. Happens all the time to lots of people.

 

Are you sure you even set the timing right?

 

I'm certain that the wires are in the right place because I only ever removed #1 cyl so that I could locate TDC #1. No wires were ever removed from the cap. I can't set the timing until I get the motor running.

I'm really stuck on this one.....

 

TTT

Hopefully someone has another idea...

 

Are you sure you were at #1 TDC for the firing stroke and not the compression stroke?

 

Intake, compression, power, exhaust.

He meant to say are you sure you found TDC between comp and power rather than between exhaust and intake. Which ME Leigh asked previously.

And did you double check the routing of your wires? Just because you didn't take them off the cap doesn't mean you couldn't swap 5 & 7 putting them on the plugs. It has been done many times before.

Also are you sure the distributor is fully seated?

 

I can feel the distributor seating all the way down, so I'm ok there... I'm also sure that I am at TDC #1 on compression (both valves closed)

Honestly I've never had a problem like this... I'm fairly competent and it's not like this is my first time doing anything like this.

this is a really strange problem and I really need a fix for this....

 

The wires haven't been taken off the plugs, so that's not an issue.

 

I had the same problem last night when i tried to fire my engine after replacing the intake gasket. It sounded like my rods were knocking. I think i may have just trashed my engine. I pulled the #1 plug and now i have no compression at all. Does anyone have any ideas before i start tearing down the motor again?

 

its all to common around here, you drop the dist. in the same manner you took it out and it doesnt fire! i know because ive done it many times and always the end result is pull plug #1 out put your thumb over hole 1, have someone crank the engine over - until it blows your thumb off, and get it as close to the 0 mark as possible, then look under the cap and see which post the rotor is pointing to and call that #1. are you disconnecting the ESC? when your setting the base timing. you cant accuratly turn the engine by hand and get compression the only way to do it is with a compression/leakdown gauge.

 

Yeah i always disconnect the ecm. I learned that lesson a while ago when i did my last rebuild. My concern now is the no compression when cranking the engine. I can feel a little suction but no compression. This is not good. I am afraid i am going to have to tear the head off and replace the gasket or worse a piston or pistons.