attached is a leet drawing of the way the distributor sits behind the engine in my camaro (of course it does not match the way the haynes manual says it sits. which pin on the distributor is pin 1? and yes, me being the moron i am i removed all the wires without marking them when i installed the new rotor/distributor cap. well they kinda just fell off the old one, the person i bought the car off of had them wires on there REAL tight *Sarcasm*

 

ok i think i have the right firing order now, it will run for about 5 seconds then die again, especially if you try to give it a little gas, it might just be flooded though, could that be the case?

 

v6 i assume? its just 123456. first cylinder is the one closest to your bumper on the passenger side. 2nd cylinder is closest to bumper on the driver side, 3rd is next closest to bumper on passneger side, etc etc..

56
34
12

like that. number one cylinder on the distributor is the first one on the bottom to the passenger side.

. .
. .
. .

the red dot is 1, and the rest are 23456 in order start from the red dot going clockwise.

 

didn't work like I thought it would sorry

 

TekViper, FYI, you can't say which one is #1 on the distrib.. it doesn't work that way. That can be easily changed by removing the distributor.

The only way to figure out which one is #1 on the distributor now is to take the #1 piston to TDC (preferrably by removing the plug and manually turning the crankshaft till you feel the piston top out and, if you can, feel to make sure both valves are closed. If they're open, rotate the crank 360 degrees and check again. The point the rotor is now pointing towards on the cap should be the #1 terminal.

Otherwise, go get a timing light and check your current setup. If it's running at all it's probably right, but you're risking serious damage to your engine via detonation/preignition.

 

whats the easiest way to move the crank? and on the distributor do the wires go clockwise 1 2 3 4 5 6 straight around the distributor, or does it go 1 on the left, 2 on the right, 3 on the left, 4 on the right, 5 on the left, 6 on the right

 

123456 right around clockwise

 

I cant draw on paint but here's a lil somethin. There we go a better lookin drawing, used the proper tools this time

 

lol omg, but yeah thats accurate.

btw u know MS paint has a Cirlce and Square tool right?

 

yes but I didnt use it

 

thats what the haynes manual says but my distributor sits differently

see how the one pin on the distributor is pointing directly forward?

 

just a guess but by the way you drew your distributor, the post right in the middle closest to the engine would be cylinder 1. im not sure whats going on with your distributor underneath the cap tho, so that could be wrong.

 

I am not at my usual computer, but its pretty funny, I have the exact same picture on my computer, except I drew it with some color.

Great minds think alike, and fools seldom differ.
But in this case its the latter.

 

They do

 

Like someone else said...assuming you're putting all of your wires in the correct order, if the car runs at all it has to be right, BECAUSE..let's say you think your #1 cylinder is a particular post, but that post is actually #2 cylinder. So then your #2 cylinder wire is gonna be on #3, etc. Car will never run like that. As long as it runs and you do have the order the same, you're good....so you've got some other problem. Now if you're like me..I accidentally crisscrossed two cylinders because I wasn't paying attention...so my order was mostly right but I had rotated two...and the car shook and misfired because it wasn't running properly on 2 cylinders.

 

got the firing order right now. but a new problem has arose...im starting to hate chevy, never had this much trouble with my firebird and it had double the miles. every once in awhile i try to start it all you hear is the relay click., next day i go to start it changing nothing (except i kicked the wheel) and it fires right up. let it run for 5 minutes. kill it. try to start it again. crank crank crank but nothing. get home from work same day, try to start, relay isnt even clicking now.

 

check the starter. I had sorta this problem on my 99 GP. It just stopped starting. would click, click, click, click. all lights & everything would work/light up & all fuses good. Swapped out batteries w/the one from the bird & no luck, even trying to jump start using the blazer was a waste. Took it dealership (under warranty ) and the starter was frelled. replace starter & no prob. I recomend getting it checked. As for variable distributor wiring patterns, beenthere, done that. all w/the 400s

 

Not saying this with the intention of bad juju...but...wonder if your flywheel is missing teeth?? I wouldn't assume that unless you already got a new starter and solenoid though...starter's probably just burnt out.

My two starters had two different death symptoms. Starter #1, every time I started it, it kept turning over slower, and slower, until it took like 4-6 seconds of continuous cranking to start the car. Starter #2 worked fine, except every now and then it would miss a crank or two...just stop in the middle of cranking and then go again...and then one day it just locked up. Turned the key, I heard the solenoid click and a loud metallic PING..the starter seized. NEVER buy a rebuilt starter! Look for REMANUFACTURED...yeah, there IS a difference!

 

It is probably the vats. Go online and you can find easy and very inexpensive bypass tutorials. I had the same problem and it only took about 1/2 hour and around $10 to fix. It's really simple. Not complicated at all.

 

vats wont allow it to crank, and u wont hear a click, i just had to do a vats bypass on a friends car 2 days ago

easiest way to know if its vats is see if the security light is on/blinking after u try to start it

 

Dave did you see when this thread started??? lol almost got by me too. Its a dead thread.

 

what is the correct firing order? I’m having similar issues with mine.

 

Scroll up to the year 2003, and you can read the firing order that was already posted....23 years ago.

 

1-2-3-4-5-6, easiest firing order to remember. Didn't stop me from switching two of the wires and wondering what my issue was for a couple weeks though if anyone needs it for the future btw, the layout is:

Rear of engine
5 6
3 4
1 2
Front of engine

There's a couple diagrams earlier in the thread that show this + the distributor layout as well, hopefully they aren't stored on Photobucket.... Can't wait for the thread to be revived again in 2037

 

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