sam2.0

The flat power issue has gone, was just down to low fuel, after slapping £20 in and going for a spin, it pulls nicely now. So, the only issue to sort out now is the high idle and revs staying high when changing gear. Oh and the ignition switch, took me 10 minutes to be able to turn the key this morning!

Took it for a drive yesterday and it got better in terms of the acceleration, I think it just must be crap from a low fuel tank. It was pulling like it always used to, put a big smile on my face! But, it still has the high idle and wants to stall when warm. I've checked the vacuum hoses and air inlets and there are no splits or cracks. Smells a little rich, but it did before I done the work, I will take it to a garage for them to play with the mixture while on a co2 sensor.

It lives! I didn't adjust if from yesterday, started her up, get te dizzy adjusted so it'd idle and warmed it up, then adjusted the dizzy correctly. Went for a drive and its idling at 1200rpm and te power is flat, wondering if a sensor or something has been damaged. Strangely it will sometimes settle to 750r idle, sometimes cut out when idling. Going to warm up from cold tomorrow and check everything over.

136k miles on the clock. It'd have to have happened after I removed the head though, would be very unfortunate timing! (pun not intended!)

Interesting, I didn't spot it was slightly off centre. The fact my cams are slightly off, and the timing light shows that I'm closer to the -6degrees BTDC mark is worrying. If I was to put the cams off an other tooth on the belt, it'd make the timing right, but then the cams are not in the place they 'should' be going off the cam markings. Keep forgetting to check the lobes to see if I have a after market cam. From memory, my lobes are are not pointy like the OEM cams show on this page: http://wiki.the-corrado.net/16v_tuning_guide.html, mine are very much like the KR cams. Although that shouldn't effect the position they need to be in.

I had to settle with the exhaust cam a degree(ish) or 2 before them being level. Can't see it making a world of difference though. No where local has a Belt to buy, incase mine is stretched. May as well fit a new one while I can anyway!

It is possible to refit the dizzy 180degrees out, I've had it off and its just a slot to put the rotor arm into, but it'd allow either way. But, before taking it off yesterday, I'd never had it off. I re-done it all again last night, rocker cover off to inspect the cam markings. Previously I'd just been using the mark on the cam pulley, but with that lined up to the mark on the rocker cover, the cam markings didn't face each other correctly. Sorted that out, and put the rocker cover back on and it still lined up. I think there was an issue with the gasket making the mark on the rocker cover was out. The belt seems to want to go on a 1/2 tooth out though. If I get it toothed up on the cam pulley, then the intermediate pulley, it won't go over the crank pulley unless it's slackened off on the intermediate pulley, which them means the belt is too slack between intermediate and cam pulleys. In the end, I had to put it back on with the valve timing slightly out (1/2 tooth) to ensure the crank was still on TDC.

I have had many issues with the car, but previous issues have been sorted (such as my alternator not working). The car had run fine for 5 months prior to the issue when starting up, turns out this was due to water getting into cylinder 1 via the HG. The whole range of the dizzy is probably 25degrees, so it seems strange why yours is not very sensitive but mine is, this is my thinking towards it being so far out it won't idle its self. I get the idea of 1 thread, and what the mods are there to do, I run my own car forum and multiple threads also seems to be the best way to get people to keep reading. I've bumped the last thread several times with no comments. I can take photos of the markings lining up, and I can compare them to loads of others I've seen where people have said its correct. All I'm asking for is people who've done this before, or are well known to the 9a to put forward suggestions as to what I could check to ensure everything else is ok. My car IS aligned 100% on the markings and it idles roughly and eventually stalls. So if the timing is correct, something else is possibly up, regardless if the car worked, idled and pulled through the revs before I started this job.

Gee, thanks for the support. I started an other thread as it draws more attention, threads hardly get replied to here, so I wanted to make it a new one to try and get one or two replies. For such a 'busy' forum there really is a lack of people willing to help, it seems the same 3 or 4 people responding, even they seem to go off a older topic and not reply. My next move, I think, is to advance the cam timing to bring the dizzy back into the middle of its scope, then that'll allow me to run the dizzy the extra 6degrees I need to line up the fly wheel. Could this be because my car has aftermarket cams?

When I took the pulley off, the key was in the correct place, just not attached, maybe its been lose for a while but the pulley never slipped? Unlikely I know. Yes to the above, apart from the only mark I have on my flywheel is a line about 1mm thick, no '0' or 'v'. Yes, sensor on ht lead 1, its not been off during the work I've done. Re done compression today, all good, from 185 to 195. Plugs only 1500 miles old!

Yes, the top cam cover is off, so I can confirm its in the right place. I purchased a second and cam pulley as my woodruff key was broken, I've since taken the new cam off and can confirm the woodruff key is in tact. To add: I'm sure I broke my original woodruff key when I turned the cam over using the bolt on it. I never turned the engine over after doing this, until I replaced it.

I've had a few issues regarding my timing, but I figured I'd start a new one as I'm at the point where everything is timed correctly. I have confirmed that the cams are lined up, the marks on the cam pulley are correct, the crank pulley is correct, as well as the flywheel. The issue I now have is, I can only get the car to start with the dizzy about 12degrees out from where TDC is, and holding revs above 1k rpm. As soon as I turn the dizzy to the 6degree mark (or where it would be as I don't have one!) it stalls. It looks as if the car would run if the fly wheel, using a timing light, would be at 12ish degrees. But the dizzy doesn't go that far around. TDC is confirmed by the flywheel, pulley and the dipstick resting on the piston head. It's as if I need to put the crank on 6 degrees so then the dizzy can sit on 12degrees. I really am at a loss as to what to do. If I do the above, I'm afraid of bending valves. If anyone is near oxford and can come and inspect/ help, it'd be great, but I appreciate that's a long shot!

Bump.

Yep, it was out by 1 tooth, sorted that and it fired with the dizzy back to the original place. Problem is, it ran fine for a bit, then started to splutter, so we move the dizzy a little and it was fine, then it happened again. Using the timing light, it was well off, so we moved it back so the flywheel mark was correct and it basically cut out. To keep the engine running the flywheel mark wasn't visable in the inspection hole. Once warm, the car wouldn't idle on its own (it needed some revs) with the dizzy at any point. When it was running on idle is was sweet, wasn't missing and didn't stink of fuel from the exhaust. It seems the timing is right, but still something is wrong. Could this be down to fuel/air mixture?

Well it turned over first time tonight! Idled by its self but got worse, we had to rev it a little to keep it going. The dizzy was at max again, so tomorrow I'm going to re time it, I think it's 1 tooth out on the crank. This will allow the dizzy to be more central too.

Thanks. Yes, in the South East. I've checked the engine bay over so many times hoping to see a cable dangling that needs connecting, but no, nothing.

The leads are correct, I triple checked yesterday. The dizzy cap is the correct way up too, I have a photo for reference! Camshafts stayed in the head, the dots on the cams line up perfectly. All electrical plugs are back correctly, most of them are either colour coded or only fit on 1 connector, but again, photos to confirm what goes where. The work carried out was minimal, intake off, rocker cover off, exhaust off, head bolts out, lift head. Replace gasket, reverse of before. The head was off for a few days and the bolts have only been tightened once (using the method of 30nm, 60nm etc). Once it was all back together, timing belt put back on and it didn't fire. This is when I started to change the position a tooth left or right. I have got it to fire and idle until warm, but the idle was 2300rpm. This was probably down to the alignment being just out, this was with the flywheel at -6 (BTDC) and the rest of the timing being TDC (this was my understanding before this topic). The next time I do work is going to be: Check if everything is still on TDC, if not, something is slipping(!). If yes, whip the rocker cover off, and time everything up again. Get the dizzy to the point it was before work was carried out and use the timing light again.

Lets assume my timing marks are all correct, which they are. What could cause this? The dizzy was at its max movement, the car ran lumpy for 5-10 seconds then died, after that we couldn't get it going again. We were wondering if its been flooded, as it was being 'started' for a few minutes with no success (while I was adjusting the dizzy). It may have been that I was too far clockwise when it caught and it really needed to go back towards centre, but I didn't get to do it in time, when the dizzy is centred, using the timing light, it lines up with the TDC mark on the flywheel. My feeling before trying this is that someones set the timing up very badly previously. In a way that the marking were all retarded by several/many teeth, and they'd just adjusted the dizzy to compensate. So by me making the timing to TDC meant the dizzy was well off.

Played with the timing light tonight, with it rotated clockwise to its maximum, it was just about firing. If I need a few more degrees on the dizzy, do I just move the timing around 1 tooth?

There are 2 pipes just under an inch wide that both connect to te airbox, these are both connected. The inlet to the air box, at the back towards the bottom, has nothing connected but never has. Should it? I Imagine it'd have something To add: tdc again with some help to hold belts firm and nothing. Moved the dizzy by hand just to try, so next I'll buy a timing light.

I haven't got a photo of the dizzy, but I am going to be trying again tonight so will take shots of everything. The engine turns over and trys to start, it does catch after 15 seconds but won't keep catching enough to turn its self over, as if its not quite catching the timing correctly (again leading me to the -6degrees).

Cam pulley woodruff is 100% ok, I checked yesterday. The rest of the points are exactly what I done yesterday, there is petrol in the bore and sparks work. With the flywheel on TDC, piston 1 is at its highest and the mark matches the crank pulley, so I can't imagine the woodruff key on that is damaged. So, what else could it be?

That's what I've been trying to do. This is why I'm asking about the BTDC, as its not working on TDC. Last night I took the belt completely off and started with static timing again, aligned it all and bolted back together, it would cough even few seconds on trying to start. I figured it's because its a tooth or 2 out.

So to confirm my POA, confirm TDC (I done it yesterday, I can just double check its all A-ok), then play with the dizzy and a timing light. Do I need to do anything, I've seen someone saying about 2500rpm is the sweet spot to get it bang on, once I get it started obviously. To help me understand a bit more as well. Can I assume the car previously has been setup incorrectly? It worked before and I've not messed with the dizzy, so would the crank have been not on TDC? Would this also cause it to run rich? It's always shot fuel out of the exhaust, it pops along like a trooper!

I have checked compression, all between 185 and 195. Dave, http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?45364-Help-needed-ignition-timing-on-a-9a-16v http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?79760-Flywheel-marks-What-is-correct! I actually changed the HG, since putting it back together it doesn't start. I've not messed with the dizzy at all. Plugs are correct. spark 1 is top left of the dizzy cap. I do get sparks and fuel into the cylinder bore. Maybe tonight I'll try and get the timing on the dizzy changed, I've marked what it was before all of this work, so I can always go back to the start if need be.