Help with setting my timing

[wnmimms]

I am hoping someone can help me here.

1979/930 Euro.

I can get the engine running but only at around 500rpm and the timing is very retarded. If I attempt to move the distributor in order to reduce the degrees of retard and move more toward BTDC the engine stumbles and dies. I just can figure out what I am goin wrong. The CDI is new and the transformer is new.


I set the crank to TDC on compression for cylinder 1
Lined up the mark on the distributor housing with the rotor so that I have full range to reduce the retard and mover toward TDC but it dies.

I did throughly clean the Air distributor and had to remove the AF mixture screw as it was impossible to turn so I reset the mixture screw and attempted to bring up the timing with the Idle control screw but have been unsuccessful...


Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks,

Bill

[356911930]

Hi Bill,

I assume that the vacuum line is connected to the distributor. How was the car running previously? Try pulling up and pushing down very lightly on the air meter plate and see if the idle drops or increases. Then we can go from there.

Rahl

[wnmimms]

Hi Rahl,

You are correct, the vacuum line is connected to the distributor. When depressing the air metering plate the RPM decreases, if I continued to push it downward I believe it would stall.

The car ran fine before...well before the CDI failed. I have since replaced it with a new unit from PartsKlassic along with a new transformer. I also replaced all the spark plugs and wires with a set from Beru.

While troubleshooting the CDI I went through all sorts of tests.

The Air Fuel Mixture screw was seized so in order to free it I needed to remove the Air Metering Box. I didn't tear into the fuel distributor but was able to free the air fuel mixture screw but in doing so it obviously needed to be reset. I removed the intake manifold, fuel injector bodies, fuel injectors, along with the WUR, Auxiliary Air Regulator and Deceleration valve. I checked all these components along with control and system pressures. All components checked out okay with the exception being the system pressure. I added a small stainless steel washer to bring the system pressure up to within normal limits.

I reassembled everything after a through cleaning then checked the fuel injectors for equal flow between all injectors and the spray pattern. These all were nearly exactly the same. In order to set the air fuel mixture screw I richened the mixture by turning air fuel mixture screw clockwise to bring the pressure up just enough to begin to see a very fine mist from the injectors then stopped.

After dropping the distributor back in I established TDC on cylinder 1 by rotating the crank until I hit TDC on cylinder 4 (exhaust) as cylinder 1 is a real pain to get to with my big hands. I then pulled the distributor and reengaged the distributor gear so that when the distributor seated the rotor is aligned with the hash mark on the distributor housing for cylinder 1.

So in short I'm at Z1 on the crank for cylinder one and the rotor is in alignment with hash mark on the distributor for cylinder 1. When I inserted the distributor I inserted it to allow for rotation of the distributor through its full range of travel in order to advance the timing. In other words, rotating the distributor clockwise towards the pole associated with cylinder 5 in advance of cylinder 1.

Sorry for the long reply... but that should bring you up to speed. I had another thread on here targeting why the car was "dieseling" which includes all the back and forth between the other members along with some sound clips and pictures.

Hope that is helpful and really appreciate your willingness to help me out.

Bill

[356911930]

Hi Bill,

I see that Alan and Mark Houghton have been helping. Both of them are great and probably know more than I. But a few simple things to check.

Try to pull up on the air meter plate carefully and see if idle increases. Also pull the vacuum line to the distributor and the idle/timing should change. I think it will advance but my distributor is different than the later versions, swingle vacuum line vs double vacuum line. Also what is the recent history of the car is what maintenance or change were made immediately befor the issues started?

Rahl

[macronbill]

Have you been able to have it fixed?