3.2l Timing
 

Guys,

Just finished a rebuilt of my 3.2l. Basically did a std rebuild, only mod was to have the cams ground to 964 spec. Went to start the motor for the first time and it wouldn't fire... checked all the usual suspects and found all good. Then I checked the Distributor timing. It was off by about 30 degrees. Puzzled and a bit confused how I could do something that stupid, I figured I just installed it wrong and corrected the problem. Started the car, ran it at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes, it ran great. Changed the oil and filter and then a couple of days later went for the maiden voyage. I got about a mile and it stalled, not to be started again. Checked the timing and it was again about 30 degrees off, it the other direction... Fixed on the side of the road and now the mark is about in the middle of the rotor tip, not on the left edge, but it ran and got us home. The question is what is going on?
Did it slip a tooth on the gear? Is the Dist. F***ed up? I'm going to check the drive gear now. Any thoughts??


Thanks,


Arnie

BTW: My thanks to Wayne for an excellent book and to Walt at Comp. Eng. for patiently answering my questions.

Hmm, the timing isn't adjustable on the 3.2 - I don't completely understand what you're trying to say?

-Wayne

The distributor is required to provide the electrical path to the appropriate clyinder when the Motronic commands the coil to fire. Therefore, when at TDC the rotor must be in the #1 postion. In my car the rotor had mysteriously shifted about 30 degrees clockwise and the engine would not run. I check the dist. gear and the drive gear on the crank and both look good. I can't see what could cause this shift in dist. timing.


I hope this helps explain the issue better.

Thanks,

Arnie

Did you check to see if the rotor was completely seated? Can you turn the rotor on the shaft? The rotor should seat down onto a notch on the dist. shaft.

So, you actually removed the distributor and reset it back into the bore? This is ceratainly an odd problem I haven't heard of before.

It could be the gear on the crank or the gear on the distributor. I assume that the gear on the end of your crank is good (inspected it during the rebuild).

Also, the 3.2 distributor has an advance type mechanism (off the top of my head) that moves the rotor to compensate for advancing of the timing by the computer. This keeps the rotor properly aligned with the cap points when the timing is advancing. This mechanism is held in with a screw, and may be loose - check your distributor carefully and let us know what you find out...

-Wayne

Found the problem... Went to check if the rotor was correctly positioned and found I could turn the entire shaft. Pulled the unit and found that the pin that holds the gear to the shaft in place was broken. NG. I just need to find a 4 mm steel pin and re-stake it in place. I have no idea why it broke, but there are somethings you just don't want to know.

Thanks for the help,

Arnie

Did you find all the pieces of the shaft?

(I hope)

Tom

Cool - easy fix...

-Wayne

Yes, I found all the pieces of the pin. They were still pressed into the distributor. I do find it a bit odd that it broke though. I can't see anything that would have held the dist. shaft with enough force to allow the shaft to break. It must have just been fratigue from running the engine with a knocking bearing???


Arnie

Doubt it - I would suspect that the distributor wasn't seated properly on reinstall, and had some significant force placed on it?

-Wayne