Hey all,

I changed my cap/rotor with a new cap/rotor from AutoZone. The rotor was a tiny bit bigger than the stock rotor and it caught on the dizzy cap. Now the ignition timing is very retarded. How possible is it that the dizzy jumped a gear on the chain?

If I use the dizzy adjustment screws to advance the timing it gets closer to working but is still far off.

Thanks!

 

are you still using that same cap and rotor?

 

Update: Not sure if this may help but It looks like I have sprung a new oil leak right around the bottom of the oil pump.

Skib: No -- I have a brand new rotor/cap that exactly match the original stock ones.

 

if you pull your dizzy off the shaft head should be pointing slightly left of 12o'clock at TDC

 

Thanks - just what I needed - will check tomorrow.

 

The shaft head is nowhere near 12 o'clock (when viewed from the U.S. driver side) at TDC (@ compression stroke on #1).

What should I start replacing? Do you think the oil leak at the top of the pump could be related to this? Maybe something could have chipped off and screwed the gasket up when it jumped a tooth. (if in fact that's what happened)

Just seems weird to me that plastic-on-plastic contact (rotor/cap) would be able to cause all of this.

 

So a leak @ the oil pump just magically started at the same time you replaced the cap? Is there more to this story that you haven't told us?

The oil pump / dizzy shaft doesn't just "skip a tooth" at random. That would be fairly hard to do actually. At this point, if you are sure the dizzy is not aligned correctly, set the motor @ TDC, remove the oil pump, re-align it, & re-install.

 

do you have any pics?

 

The leak @ the pump 'may' have started right before all of this. I only mentioned it because it looked fresh. (there's a lot of build up down there so who knows)

I'm gonna go buy a new pump since they're nice and inexpensive and I'll post the results along with some pics of the whole situation later today.

Thanks a lot for the help guys. I was on the verge of junking this thing. Not that I don't love the 280 - it's the current daily driver.

 

OK - I'm an idiot - After re-checking everything before going out to buy a bunch of parts I noticed the notch on the crank was align w/ 20 instead of 0. (I blame the grundge!)

The shaft head is aligned properly - slightly left of 12 @ TDC.
I guess now I have to figure out why the timing seems so far retarded.

The engine runs at ~100rpms and will rev to about 300rpms at full throttle. If I use the dizzy adj. screws and advance all the way then it runs at about 400rpms and revs to about 1500rpms.

I am 1000% positive on the following (even more than being at TDC before ):
- The wires are in the right place on the cap. (per http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ring-order.jpg)
- The only components replaced after it stopped working were the cap, rotor, and ign. module.
- The original problem was bad points on the ign. module. The connections were intermittent and kept killing the engine.

Sorry for the uh.. misinformation heh.

 

Skib... we need a good facepalm pic!!!!

 

lol thats what i figured, its not easy to jump teeth.

assuming that its a 280zx, you dont have points


with the engine at TDC is the rotor pointing to the #1 wire on your dizzy cap?

 

just for you

 

Sorry - by "points" I meant the 2 connectors on the top of the ignition module. (Blue/brown wires)

Yeah - at TDC the rotor points at the #1 wire. I'm checking the timing now that the mark is in the right place - will post results.

 

The timing is ~20 degrees retarded without the vacuum advance hooked up and with the dizzy fully advanced w/ the adj screws.

 

if you set your mark on the damper to 0 and pull the #1 plug is the piston there at the top?

 

wow skib, that made me fall off my chair... wow..

And thanks for that pic of the firing order. That is certainly useful

 

If by "damper" you mean the plate the timing marks are on (0...10...20) then yes the #1 piston is at the very top of the cylinder when the notch on the crank is at 0. The distributor rotor is pointing at the #1 spark wire at the same time.
( I checked by putting a thin wooden pole in the #1 spark hole while rotating towards and then past the "0" on the plate. )
1SlowZX: Yeah I found it on this forum somewhere - very helpful.

 

the big pulley at the end of your crank is your crank damper pulley



is it running rough at all? sound like a tractor? lol

 

Ah gotcha - yeah it runs rough and sounds like a tractor.

 

did it do that before?

 

Not before it was parked for a fault ignition module (the beginning of all of this).

As the distributor is advanced w/ the adjustment slots the engine starts running a little smoother but still very rough.

 

Do you still have the old Rotor cap? I would say take them both off, and study them make sure they are exaclty the same... This may sound stupid but it might work.. What if you just took out the advance, and advanced the rotor a notch or two? ... Just an idea

 

1SlowZX: I did that before and they are exactly the same.

 

Would physicaly changing the rotor make a difference in timing? If so like i said that could possibly work. Try advancing the blade a notch or 2