Sorry for the long eye straining description here, but here is my car problem. I recently got my TA back from a mechanic having a new coil installed. I would have done it myself, but i was in a time crunch and didnt really know why my car wouldnt start and had to be at an airport in 2 days. Anyhow, I get it back and now my check engine light comes on and the car occasionally runs rough. I noticed the spark plug wires have been moved around. I am convinced that the wires were installed incorrectly on the distributor. The engine code is 14 which translates to "no distributor reference pulse". This is why I am convinced the wires are just not on the distributor in the correct order. My ECM is fine, and I had no check engine light before this shop touched my car.

Can i confirm this without removing the #1 plug and finding TDC?? I dont want the mechanic touching my car. Is there a way for myself to find this out without another set of hands to help? I moved out of state and dont know many ppl here yet who would offer to get their hands dirty for a couple hours. Needless to say I am disappointed spending the money i did on the "diagnostics and repair" and would appreciate any suggestions. I think the firing order is 18436572. How does this translate to the position on the distributor? Does it completely depend on where the rotor is pointed? Thanks.

1984 TA
305 L69 automatic
51K original miles

 

it completely dependeds on where the rotor is pointing at TDC you will have to at least pull a the driverside valve cover to get close to TDC.. it doesnt have to be perfect to check...just close when you have the timing marks aligned at about 0* and both valves on the #1 cylinder are closed then you can look at which post in the dist the rotor is pointing at that will be where the #1 plug wire should go then around the order from there...



but from your discription that doesnt sound like the problem. if you had the wires in the wrong order then it would probably run rough ALL the time... if at all

 

That's not your problem. The distributor will send reference pulses to the ECM if there aren't even any wires connected. Look for a problem with the pickup coil or ignition module.

 

If the SES light is on all the time, then they probably didn't get the flat 4-wire EST connector reconnected properly. You don't have to do that to replace the coil, but you do to check the timing, which a proper "diagnostics and repair" would include.

 

thanks. I discovered another code which was also appearing but only sometimes. It was the coolent temp sensor. After quick inspection, the wires looked pulled and exposed as if someone was trying to "unplug" it. I replaced the sensor with a new pigtail harness and now there is no check engine light anymore, not even for the previous distibutor code I posted my original question for. I am going to assume that it is fixed until it lights up again. Maybe one triggered the other?? who knows....... but thank you very much to all with your responses. The weather is finally great here and driving the car is sooo much more fun

 

Oh yeah, also, it appears that the plug wires were installed in the correct order after I checked each one. However, the clips to keep them from looking like tangled spaghetti under the hood were not used after the repair at the mechanic shop which is how i knew the wires were messed with. I cleaned it up again and all is good now. thanks again.