i had a leaky intake manifold gasket, so i took the hsr and everything off, replaced the gasket, and now when i try to start her up, she backfires DIRTY (and doesn't turn on). twice did it sound like a shotgun going off, lmao. i dont know what it could be. i try to point the rotor at #1 cyl at tdc but it's a lil confusing. there are two ways that it looks like it's pointing to cyl#1.. one actually points closer to 1+3 and the other points almost down the middle, but more towards #1. thats where i have it set, and the damn thing still wont start and backfires on me. there is spark comming out of the plug wires, and the fp is fine. i just don't get it. anyone got any ideas? thanks a lot

Two things come to mind..

either you didnt route the spark plug wires correct

or the distributor was put in funky and the numbers are off a little now but you kept the plug wires in the same order....


my suggestion is to put your motor at #1 TDC again and put the distributor in again. And if you're dumb like me (i fiddled with my distributor for a good 2 hours before getting it perfect) it'll take you a while to figure out that the oil pump driveshaft needs to turn to match the bottom of the distributor tooth for the oil pump. It's a little tricky... ok ok... a lot tricky, but you'll get it if you keep at it

plug wires are perfect. i just dont know whats going on. i put the crank at tdc and put the dist pointing at #1 (well... i tried both ways, the one that points towards #1+#3 and the one that points towards the front of the car and number 1 cyl. still acts gay. i just stripped the crank bolt so im rigging that right now with some jb weld before i can go to the junkyard and get another one. everything was working perfect yesterday. could i have placed the dist backwards or something? i dunno... i need help lol

one thing i know for sure is substuting a chacter for a letter in a censered word is a very good way to get banned. don't do it again. as for your other problem if the wires are perfect and you set #1 to TDC and the rotor is pointing to #1 post on the distributor cap it'll fire, maybe with a little twinking of the distributor position. if it doesn't you got it wrong.

Sounds like your 180* off--timing mark can be at 0, but your180 off--remove dist and rotate 180* and reinstall.

OR rotate engine 1 complete revolution to TDC/0* and reinstall dist withrotor pointing at 1.

HEY DUDE--THIS IS THE YEAR 2005--BE COOL WITH YOUR SAYINGS--YOU ARE ALLOWED TO THINK IT--BUT IT'S NOT COOL TO BE UNCOOL!

lol sorry about that. i took care of the word and edited out. whoops lol

wont happen again. i'm going to wait till the crank bolt dries and then try flipping the dist 180 to see if it works. i've rebuilt my engine (top end) before and never had this problem. i thought it might be 180 out but ive never experienced that before so i wasn't sure. you live and you learn. thanks dudes... ill let you know the outcome if it ends up working or still giving me problems.

BTW... should it be facing cyl#1 towards the front of the car, or more towards cyl1 and cyl3?

the rotor should be facing the #1 terminal ... like in this picture...

If it sounds like somebody is dropping M-80's down your intake when your are cranking it--it's 180* off!!!

yep. sounds like a shotgun going off lol. i rotated the crank to tdc and i turned the dist 180. lemme put her back together and ill let u guys know if it worked. thanks for everything

thanks guys... thats all it was. 180 f'n degrees out

glad you got it fixed

I am having this same problem. What exactly was rotated 180 degrees? Did you just pull the cap and turn the shaft 180 or did you pull the dizzy out and do it.

The engine makes 2 complete revolutions for the distributor to make 1 complete revolution. When it is out 180, it is firing on #1 when it should be firing on #6. The rotor is off by 180 degrees. If you are out 180, you can spin the engine 1 revolution and re-install distributor back on #1 again, or pull distributor and set it on #6. I prefer spinning the motor, because I always set the distributor in on cyl #1.

so you saying that even though I can feel and hear air blowing out the #1 plug hole that I may NOT be on the compression stroke. I felt air coming out and then I looked at teh damper and turned the engine until the timing tab lined up with 0 on the damper. is that correct or what. This is killing here. I have done this procedure many times in the past w/o problems.

No, I was just explaining what is meant by 180 out. If you are confident that the engine is in the right position, I wouldn't worry about it. Personally, I have never done it that way. I pull a valve cover and watch what the valves are doing. When at TDC for #1, the valves on #1 will not be moving, but the ones on #6 will be "rocking" (exhaust valve closing, intake valve opening). It will sound like posted above when you go to start it if it's 180 out.

"so you saying that even though I can feel and hear air blowing out the #1 plug hole that I may NOT be on the compression stroke?"


you'd have air coming out the plug hole if you were on the exhaust stroke also.

so without puling the valve cover, what is the best method to ensure I am at TDC on the compression stroke. I swear I have done this many times in the past without and problems by just putting my finger on the hole and waiting for air to come out. once air is pushing out I just continue to rotate the engine until the timing mark lines up at TDC. All Well, I will try it again

Without pulling the valve cover- It's a best guess-put #1 on TDC--and stab dist as normal--U will be either dead on or 180* off--if it backfires U are 180* off--rotate engine 1 revolution and restab dist at #1
OR
DO NOT ROTATE MOTOR!--remove dist and point rotor at #6--

My 87 camaro won't start crank but wouldn't start just replaced my intake manifold

Please can someone help

Look at the time stamps on this thread, it's as old as Donald Trump talking bad about women. It's from 2005. Nice use of the search function though.

As for your issue, you need spark, air, and fuel. Track down which one you don't have and go from there. I know it sounds basic but that's the most foolproof way of doing it without throwing random solutions at it.