Baddad

Bottom line; TDC engine on #1 cylinder. Install distributor so rotor just PAST #1 terminal on the distributor cap!
[img]webkit-fake-url://7ddaebde-4114-45b5-9f9d-fd3b2bad6295/imagejpeg[/img]
My sob story; My sons ‘96 distributor bushing was so bad it broke his rotor! The shaft wiggled 3/8” side to side! Can’t believe it ran for that long with a bad bearing and no noise 😮. Anyway, got a new distributor from Oriellys and tried stabbing it into the same alignment as the old one but it was kinda guess work since the shaft was so loose. The engine wouldn’t fire so we TDC #1, lined up rotor with #1 post, installed it and after a bit of cranking she fired up and idled fine. Rolled it over to shop to button up the wording. Victory! (Not!) went to restart it and all it would do is crank! Argh! Wiring good, firing order good, coil checked out (replaced anyway), cps tested good, refreshed grounds, checked fuses and relays, cleaned electrical plugs, fuel pressure good, injectors injecting, finally exchanged distributor, NOTHING WORKED! Finally my buddy, suprmn, found a post referring to the rotor pointing just PAST the #1 terminal, so I figured, wtf, give it a try. Lined up TDC AGAIN, then installed distributor with rotor pointing as described, it fired up and runs great!!!! WHY IS THIS NOT IN ANY OF THE DIRECTIONS, servicemanuels, etc! And THATS what that little plastic pin is for in the new distributor, an alignment pin! I’ve done literally hundreds of distributor installs and this is the first application I’ve seen this! Hope this post saves someone 2 days of headaches!

Baddad

jhc7399

My 99 is the exact same way. When we did an engine swap we put it tdc and lined up the distributor with the mark and it wouldn't run, put it just past and it started right up.

Odd but it works.

cktasto

Had same issue this weekendon my92xj. Blade supposed to be just past #1 post on the dizzy. I was one tooth off and it wouldnt pop even with starter fluid.