VR6 Distributor timing rotor alignment

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

Hello

 

I bought a Vege remanufactured engine 2 yrs ago and transferred all the bits off my old engine onto the new one including the distributor. The engine has never run right with a lumpy possible misfire kinda feel to it.

 

A friend had a look recently and asked how I set up the distributor and thinking about it now, I think I just slapped it on!

Looking at the Peter Russek manual and the big yellow one they both refer to getting cylinder no. 1 to TDC and then marking the position of the rotor on the distributor housing before taking it off. The problem is a) I didn't mark it and b) I swopped it from my old engine which may mean it wouldn't have been right for this engine anyway?

 

So the question is when I have aligned my cylinder no.1 with TDC (by using the mark on the crankshaft pulley with the mark on the block) where should the rotor arm be pointing when I insert it back into the cylinder head?

 

I have tried doing lots of searches but haven't found an answer for this question - can anyone help me with this?

 

Chris

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

you cant get it wrong,put the engine to no 1 tdc,look on the flywheel or crank pully side.

 

The distributer has an off-set slot to ...um well slot onto the cams with the rotor arm pointing towards the groove in the distributer and the bolt holes are fixed so you can not adjust it.

 

So no matter how you slapped it on it wound have been spot on or 180 deg out and it would not have started or run.

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

OK thanks for that!

 

So there is no way its 180 degrees out because the engine wouldn't run at all.

 

The symptons are that the engine runs rough and when you rev the engine up to 1500 revs there is a noticable vibration making the steering wheel shake when stationary. This disapears when you rev higher but its still not right.

 

I am getting chalky deposits on the spark plugs indicating the timing is not right so could it be the Hall sender on the distributor thats duff?

 

Any thoughts?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

Are the plugs and leads in good working order? is your car using oil? when you got the new engine did you get it complete with the head all timed up?

 

Do you have the firing order correct?

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

Hi

 

I have replaced the plugs with NGK ones a month ago and I replaced the HT leads 18 months ago and both made no difference at all.

 

When I bought the engine the head was on and therefore should have been timed correctly?

 

The engine isn't using any oil other than a minor leak that drips occasionally off the bottom.

 

I also replaced the dizzy cap and rotor when I put the engine in.

 

I am assuming that I got the firing order right as I took it off the old one but that could be worth a check do you know the order?

 

Thanks!

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

The firing order is: 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4. No 1 being at the back far left. I would pull the rocker cover off and time it up to rule that out,if that ok then plug vagcom in to find out any fault codes...if any

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

Hi

Sorry if Im being a bit thick but where do I start from on the distributor cap to get the order right. That is where would no.1 lead plug into - as you are probably guessing Im not that clued up on this!

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

Hi

 

Just found the firing order on another thread - checked them and they are fine :confused4:

 

I had the VAG Com read andthe only codes it threw up were for the lambda probe which was replaced after this the codes were cleared and non returned 3 weeks later.

 

I was thinking of taking the rocker cover off to look at the timing marks and also taking the injectors out cleaning them and checking there are no air leaks in the system.

 

Any other ideas?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

as in the first post,the line /groove on the distributer is No1 and the rotation is anticlockwize.you start at no one,and one at a time,there should be markings on the plastics and leads indicating which lead goes to each cylinder :dorky:

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

if all the electrical side of things is fine and it runs better as you rev it,i would then start to check for air leaks,the pot next to the throttle body is a good starting point.

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

Hi

 

Thanks for the tip I replaced the pot with a new one 6 months ago and fitted another ISV valve at the same time but still no improvement.

 

I will keep looking

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

can you put a video clip up?

[Chris_Corrado_VR6 0]

Hi

I tried to post a video but it didnt work :(

 

I was looking at some posts and they mentioned about hall senders on the distributor. I looked through the Bently manual and it said to measure the voltage going to the sender and its 12v on my car which is fine, the next step was to attach an led light onto wires on the hall sender and turn the engine over to check that the led's flicker. That might be a tommorow job as I would have to make some leads up.

 

I did notice though that plugging and unplugging the hall sender made no difference to the running of the engine - is that right?

 

Anyone out there had problems with their hall sender on early VR's?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

I did notice though that plugging and unplugging the hall sender made no difference to the running of the engine - is that right?

 

Thats no right,best do your check it might be duff,the coil pack versions are the same,when the sensor goes down it has less power but still runs the same,so i suspect it would be the same on yours?