HELP!!! I have FUBARed my ignition...

[kevinseven]

Last night I put a new coil, condenser, points, rotor, and cap on my 1975 1.8L. Now, when I turn her over, the engine races to 3,000 rpm and dies. So, in my idiocy I have:

Put the distributor in wrong?

Mis-ordered the plug wires?

Gapped the points opposite of what they should be?

As I went back to try and start form scratch, the only timing mark I could find was a RED mark ? no WHITE, no BLACK. I am assuming the PO and 25 yrs. has lost the others. With that mark visible, the rotor wanted to point to around 10:30 on the dial and the lobe on the shaft was just about to open the points. So is 10:30 on the dial cylinder one? 12:00 being the front of the car, of course.

Can someone please give me the igniition wire order. The cylinders are 1 - 2 - 4 - 3 going clockwise according to Haynes and my sheetmetal but what order do I run the wires?

Feel free to insult my poor organizational skills and lack of mechanical knowledge ? I deserve it.

kevin
atlanta, ga

[kevinseven]

The Pelican Tech Article about Dwell had a pic. of wire #1 on the distributor and the article addendum says that the cap runs in this order: 1 - 4 - 3 - 2?

I could have sworn this was the set up I had that would give me the race to 3,000 and then die. Any other combination and the engine wouldn't start or would just back fire once ? probably blew my airbox up.

[kevinseven]

The Pelican Tech Article about Dwell had a pic. of wire #1 on the distributor and the article addendum says that the cap runs in this order: 1 - 4 - 3 - 2?

I could have sworn this was the set up I had that would give me the race to 3,000 and then die. Any other combination and the engine wouldn't start or would just back fire once ? probably blew my airbox up.

[aircooled]

Hi Kevin. If the car wasn't mis-firing when it hit 3000 rpm then I would submit to you that ignition timing isn't the big issue here. With L-jet (1974 and 1975 1.8) be VERY sure there are no places where crankcase pressure can escape. Make sure all hoses in the breather system are hooked up. And lastly, make sure the oil cap isn't loose. This is not a joke.

If you're sure all of the hoses are in their correct places then there may be a fuel delivery problem. Specifically check the connectors on the relays in the engine compartment. If I was better versed as to the purpose of all of these relays, I could tell you which one keeps the fuel injection from properly performing it's job.

Wish I could be of more help. Good luck.

Rick H.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Generally, there are two things that will cause the idle to be too high.

One is an air leak that lets air bypass the throttle plate. In the 1.8s, most of those air leaks allow unmetered air into the engine, resulting in a very lean mixture. This generally does not result in a very high idle, though it might... If, however, there is a leak of metered air past the throttle plate, that would cause a high idle. Things to check would be the AAR, the decel valve, and anything else that connects both "before" and "after" the throttle plate. (Perhaps the diaphragm in the distributor's vacuum dashpot is broken??)

The other thing, and the most likely in this case, that would cause a high idle is over-advanced timing.

I'll try to check my spare fan when I get a chance and give you some reference for where the marks are. A red mark is usually the timing mark--the TDC mark is often just a stamped "0" with no paint on it. It is possible that you wound up with a 1.7 or 2.0 fan, which has the wrong timing mark on it for the 1.8--about 22 degrees too far advanced.

The firing order for the engine is 1-4-3-2. The distributor rotor position for firing the #1 plug should be roughtly toward the left-front. 10:30 on the clock doesn't sound unreasonable.

As for the plug wires, I usually remember it by "the right side plugs are right, the left side are wrong". That is, the right-front spark plug connects with the right-front terminal on the distributor cap. Right-rear plug connects to the right-rear terminal. But--the left-rear plug connects to the left-front terminal (that's the #1 one), and the left-front plug connects to the left-rear terminal. Or, another way, you cannot hook up the left side correctly without the plug wires crossing somewhere. You can hook up the right side without the wires crossing.

For some reason, most people just prefer to remember "1-4-3-2" and look at the cylinder numbers in the engine tin...

--DD

[kevinseven]

I just got back from Sears where I bought a Dwell meter ? I could have sworn my Fluke did it but I could find it.

Anyway, as soon as I get home I'll hook my plug wires up correctly and quadruple check everything. I'll probably find that when I put the breather box back in a I never reconnected the Air Flow sensor.

Thanks for the fast responses.

[HMeeder]

Kevin:

Just a quick thought. Dave has a very good point about the importance of the hoses and the relationship of the various vacuum ports. When I first got my '74, a tech at a shop swapped the retard and advance hoses on the distributor vac advance. This resulted in a very high idle (around 2500) that would not drop. However, in my case, the car didn't die and was driveable (albeit poorly.) Take a very good look at the hose diagrams on this site. My '74 2.0 is a d-jet so I'm not sure if this post is even relevent to your case. From my understanding, vacuum issues are even more important to the l-jet motors.

best of luck

Herb

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The "0" mark is about 4.5 fan blades to the right of one of the four thick "blocks" that support the front half of the fan. The fan blades are about 7.5 degrees apart. Therefore, the 1.8's timing mark would be about 3.5 fan blades to the right of one of the four "blocks".

For TDC, you can also check the marks on the flywheel. You can see them through the notches (top and bottom) in the tranny bellhousing. You'll need a mirror to see the mark through the top notch, and the bottom notch shows the mark at 180 degrees away from TDC.

--DD

[kevinseven]

That's really good info, DD. Looks like I'm going to need it. I got my engine all back together last night and put some new plugs in. The old ones were black and sooty -- Haynes says that I'm running way too rich. I guess I'll tackle that next.

Anyway, by double checking all the hoses I was able to fix that rev to 3,000 and then die. I checked my points again and hooked up my Sears special Dwell meter and it read 54. Now the manual lists that as out of norm but within were limit. What should I do?

Should I monkey with the points or is that a sign of a funky distibutor? I don't want to drop a couple of hundred on an electronic ignition only to find out I need another $800 for a new distributor.

I then proceeded to set the timing but I had a devil of a time with the idle. I let it get good and warm and the Sears meter gave me a reading of 1,600 RPM, the onboard tach said it was about 1,000 RPM and my Fluke 88 bounced between 350 and 1,200 but usually said 980 RPM. I,m starting to mistrust my old Fluke but when I dialed the idle screw down so the Sears said 900, the engine was so choked that it could barely keep running.

I decided to go with the onboard, the Fluke and my ear and when I cranked up the timing light I could see the RED mark made by the PO just a few impellors to the left of the notch. So is that mark TDC or 7.5 for the 1.8?

I dialed the distributor until the RED mark was in the notch and packed eveything up...come to think of it I bet I forgot to tighten down the distributor clamp. Hmm...something to do over lunch.

Anyway, this morning I'm finally back on the road -- it's about 32 - 38 degrees outside -- and when I come to a stoplight the engine sits at around 2,000 RPM. If I feather the clutch once in gear I can get it to drop back down to just under the 1,000 mark. What's the deal? Is this a symptom of my questionable timing job or do I still have a hose problem.

kevin
1975 1.8L
atlanta, ga

[kevinseven]

I meant to say that the 54 Dwell reading was within wear limit and not were limit.