my friend is retarded please help him(distributor)

Ramsey · Oct 21, 2004

my friend phillip decided to change his distributor, in my driveway, and instead of reading a write up or following the directions that came with it which he had in hand, he decided to just take it off and slap a new one on. and suprise suprise it did not start. it has been in my driveway for about 4 days, how can it be fixed so that the damn thing will crank. any hints tips or just how will be very much appreciated.

OT · Oct 21, 2004

Try swapping the plug wires around 180 degrees.

hjeepxj · Oct 21, 2004

Make sure all of the wires are correctly mounted, then, you play the trial and error game. You have to mount it, try to start, take it off, turn it a tooth, mount it, try and start, repeat untill it runs...good. Good luck! It's not a fun job! My dad and I changed my distributor, and the one on our 56 chevy, and we even marked it and it wasnt fun.

Lincoln · Oct 21, 2004

I like retarted threads.

Turn the motor by hand (or use a breaker bar with a socket on the crank pully if your weak) until it is at top dead center on the firing stroke. Pulling the spark plug and feeling for compression will help then like up the marks on the crank pully with the helpful guide on the timing chain cover.

Then follow this:
http://www.angelfire.com/my/fan/dist_index.html

sidriptide · Oct 21, 2004

Lincoln said:
I like retarted threads.

Turn the motor by hand (or use a breaker bar with a socket on the crank pully if your weak) until it is at top dead center on the firing stroke. Pulling the spark plug and feeling for compression will help then like up the marks on the crank pully with the helpful guide on the timing chain cover.

Then follow this:
http://www.angelfire.com/my/fan/dist_index.html

pull all th eplugs and you can turn it by hand.. cover the front hole with your finger to feel the compersion stroke.. like lincoln said.. watch the marks on the balancer and line it up.. i even used the oil dipstick down into the cylinder as a guage to feel when the piston stopped its travel.. hard to do when you are just feeling the compression.. when you install the distributor do not point the rotor contact directly at the #1 cylinder plug wire pole.. it needs to be set "just ahead" of that position because as the helical gears mesh the shaft will turn the rotor shaft.... it will take a few tries but get it to what you think is the right spot.. if its close it will run.. but you willknow its not right....
repeat as neccesary..

redyouch · Oct 21, 2004

sometimes it needs to be off by one tooth either way.

Lincoln · Oct 21, 2004

sidriptide said:
pull all th eplugs....

I like that "eplugs".

Ramsey · Oct 21, 2004

thanks for all the replies, i will try this as soon as he comes over with the damn keys, he left it locked and in my driveway and the thing is he hardly even cares. i just want this pos out of my driveway, oh btw its a grand

Yucca-Man · Oct 21, 2004

Remind him that possession is 9/10ths...I bet he'll get it fixed quicker!

Ramsey · Oct 21, 2004

i'm gonna apply that if he doesnt come over tomorrow

Osprey413 · Oct 21, 2004

Did he replace the whole distributor, or just the cap? It could be that he just got the wires all messed up. On my '97 the firing order is written on the intake manifold. If his has the same use that to put the wires in order. Start at the "1" marked on the cap and go counter clock wise. That's how I did mine and it ran perfectly the first try. 5 min job max.

89xj · Oct 21, 2004

Ramsey said:
my friend phillip decided to change his distributor, in my driveway, and instead of reading a write up or following the directions that came with it which he had in hand, he decided to just take it off and slap a new one on. and suprise suprise it did not start. it has been in my driveway for about 4 days, how can it be fixed so that the damn thing will crank. any hints tips or just how will be very much appreciated.

i agree with osprey, did he replace the distributor or cap?

either way, a chiltons or haynes maunual will show you how to do both.

you say it wont start but also say it wont crank? is it both? if it doenst crank, the coil wire is also not connected.

Eagle · Oct 21, 2004

89xj said:
if it doenst crank, the coil wire is also not connected.

???????

How does that work? I can pull the coil wire on any of my vehicles and crank until the battery is dead.

Ramsey · Oct 21, 2004

the actual distributor was replaced, the coil rotor and wires had been replaced earlier. the engine will turn over but will not start. if he doesnt come today i am gonna hide his tires so when he does finally get it working he cant drive :laugh:

sintax · Oct 21, 2004

Eagle said:
???????

How does that work? I can pull the coil wire on any of my vehicles and crank until the battery is dead.

Thats what i was thinking, this one made blood shoot out of my nose and eyes roll back in my head when I read it.

-Scott

89xj · Oct 21, 2004

oops, my screw up.

one of things i wish i could take back.

bshaw · Oct 21, 2004

Okay, here's my two pennies. If he replaced the whole distributor something other than plugs might be messed up. Is the rotor button pointing in the right direction? Have you tried looseing the clamp to the dis. and turning it? I have a f150 i-6 in it, and I just replaced the dis. here not to long ago. When I got everthing put back together it would not start for me. Checked all the wires to make sure they were in the right order and they were. Made sure the rotor button was not off 180 degree's (suppose to be pointing at the #1 spark plug), and it was not. So last thing I tried was turning the dis. and it worked. Would start up, and ran a little rough so I kept turning the dis. until it smoothed out. This works the same way on the Cherokee 4.0 i-6 I believe. Hope this helps you out......

Osprey413 · Oct 21, 2004

Why did he replace the whole thing to being with?

hjeepxj · Oct 21, 2004

bshaw said:
Okay, here's my two pennies. If he replaced the whole distributor something other than plugs might be messed up. Is the rotor button pointing in the right direction? Have you tried looseing the clamp to the dis. and turning it? I have a f150 i-6 in it, and I just replaced the dis. here not to long ago. When I got everthing put back together it would not start for me. Checked all the wires to make sure they were in the right order and they were. Made sure the rotor button was not off 180 degree's (suppose to be pointing at the #1 spark plug), and it was not. So last thing I tried was turning the dis. and it worked. Would start up, and ran a little rough so I kept turning the dis. until it smoothed out. This works the same way on the Cherokee 4.0 i-6 I believe. Hope this helps you out......

Teh jist of what I suggested. :cheers:

Ramsey · Oct 21, 2004

it kept dying on him and he had already changed the alternator battery wires cap rotor cleaned the plugs, so this was the next thing that made sense.

my friend is retarded please help him(distributor)

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