Quick help - timing 9a 16v

[Wullie 1]

Scratching my head a bit on this one. If the timing marks are in lineand you have to turn the dizzy by that much the only other thing I can think of is that the plug leads are wrong, but I think you said you have checked this. No 1 lead should be the top left as you look at the dizzy from the gearbox side of the car and be 1, 3, 4, 2 going anti clockwise.

 

Did you have the camshafts off the head? If so are the timing marks on the camshaft sprockets in line. How did the engine run prior to the head gasket work. Are all the electrical connections back in the right place. Remote diagnosis is difficult at the best of times.

 

Perhaps, as David says get a couple of pics of the marks and dizzy up and if possible a brief description of the work you carried out when replacing the head gasket. There have been so many different threads on this it's becoming difficult to remember what has and hasn't been done.

[sam2.0 10]

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.

[Wullie 1]

Best of luck with it all, sometimes the problem is so bleeding obvious you can't see it. Pity you weren't a bit closer but i believe you're in England somewhere.

 

Wullie

[sam2.0 10]

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.

[sam2.0 10]

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.

[sam2.0 10]

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?

[sam2.0 10]

Bump.