89 Renix wont start

Hi I am a newbie her and am hopping to get some knowledge on what to check on my 1989 cherokee. So here goes what is wrong with it. It wont fire up. The dist, was wore out and broke the sensor inside of it. I put a used dist. out of a running driving renix motor. I am getting spark out of the coil and to the end of the coil wire I am just nit getting any spark out of the plug wires at the plug. just to give a little info i have checked the spark I have checked the cps the dist. is spinning so it should get spark but it isnt. it has new cap rotor plug wires and plugs I need help please this is my only means of transportation

The most common thing is that people do not get the distributor indexed. In simple terms, that means that the distributor has to go in exactly the same way as the old one came out. When the engine is on the compression stroke and at top dead center, the rotor should be pointing just before the #1 plug wire. Search should yield tons of info on this.

You did remember to put the rotor back in, right. I was tired one night doing a swap and fought with an engine for quite some time, only to find the rotor laying on the valve cover.:doh:

Yeah I put the dist. back in the same exact spot as the original one was and yes I put the rotor back in and I have had the cap off several times since I put the dist. in

I'm with old_man on the distributor indexing. Even if your absolutely sure you put the replacement distributor in exactly how the original was I would still double check it.

old_man said:

I was tired one night doing a swap and fought with an engine for quite some time, only to find the rotor laying on the valve cover.:doh:

Click to expand...

LOL, Join the old-engineers what did I forget this time club!!!!

I failed to get the rotor all the way down on the shaft with the locator pin in the hole (It was dark, I was tired, and it had just stalled on me so I checked it, and failed to hit the sweat spot putting it back in in the dark, LOL!!!. Still not sure I how I got the cap back on, but it tried to run with the rotor standing about 3/8" too high on the shaft under the cap. Never even knew that was possible.

I think there are 16 teeth on the shaft, and even if you get it to TDC compression, being of 2 teeth will still kill the deal. Off 1 tooth it will run like shit. So you have two in 16 chances of getting it wrong, if it is at TDC compression on #1 when you install it.

I double checked were the timing was and the dist was off by two teeth so re-dropped it and it runs but it still is not right. I think the plugs are fouled out do to me trying to crank on it and it was flooded out

You may have fuel fouled plugs but I wouldn't rule being off by a tooth. The way I set it is to put it at roughly 14 degrees BTDC and then line the cap up with the rotor on Plug 1.

atom89xjlmt said:

I double checked were the timing was and the dist was off by two teeth so re-dropped it and it runs but it still is not right. I think the plugs are fouled out do to me trying to crank on it and it was flooded out

Click to expand...

If you loaded it with fuel, it may have washed the pistons-walls down, and dropped the compression. Need to get oil back on the walls if that is the case. Some would pull the plugs, drop some oil in each cylinder (a few drops, 1/2 teaspoon?) then turn it over a few times. Dry and reinstall the plugs. You could also floor the gas peddle and crank, that turns fuel off, and maxes air flow to dry it out till it fires up.


You also may still be one tooth off. When you first line it up, it will rotate as the dizzy tooth engages, what was lined up ends up being one tooth off, so you need line it up to be one tooth off (looks that way) first, then as you drop it in it rotates to line up perfectly.