I recently completely removed the whole distributor, and in the process of putting it back in I lost all sense of the exact position, so timing is way off. This was a complete abortion as now I'm not sure what spark plug goes where from the engine to the distributor as well, and after an hour and thirty of internet research I still don't have a good idea of what to do. I think first I need todetermine exactlywhich spark plug wire goes where on the distributor first. Can anyone help me in that regard, perhaps a diagram of some sort. Then from there I can find the right timing byrotating the distributor little by little until the engine fires up...it can't be that off I believe. But if I am, then what? Is there a tech article that you guys can point me too. I have a 91 C4 L98.

 

1st, pull #1 spark plug (front plug, driver's side), have some one bump engine over (a little at a time) and hold your finger over the plug hole until you feel compression in that cylinder. Then look at your timing marks and use a socket and rachet to put the mark on the balancer on 0 degrees TDC. Have the distributor cap off and mark the location of #1 plug wire, then drop the the distributor in with the rotor pointing at #1. You will have to start the rotor before dropping it in pointing at 1 to 2 cylinders before # 1 (remember distributor rotates clockwise looking from the top). You might have to play with oil pump drive on the bottom by holding down on rotor and wiggle it back and forth to get the drive seated and allow the distributor to fully seat on the manifold. Might even have to bump the engine over to get the drive to fall into place. After the drive seats, bump the engine over again with your finger over #1 hole until you feel compression and put it on 0 degrees again , then check your rotor alignment. Remember that the distributor can rotate several degrees so the alignment should be centered in the rotation. Then put your wires on in the firing order (clockwise), 18436572. put your clamp on and snug enough to allow adjustment. Then locate your set timing connector (by distributor, brown wire with black tracer) disconnect, set timiming, kill engine, reconnect and your there. [sm=americanasmiley.gif]

 

thanks mech259, that really helped. I think I've been troubleshooting the wrong thing, as I think i have an injector problem now. I thought it was an electrical issue...but the car ran perfect...and after thinking about it....I did go kind of overboard with fuel injector cleaner, and according to a guy from a different forum he stated, "
"With '85-88 Bosch injectors, do not use cleaning additives in the gas tank. Fuel-system cleaners are not recommended, by GM, because of the kinds of materials used in the fuel tank bladder, fuel O-rings, and fuel line hoses. If cleaning is required, use the GM specified procedure. On the other hand, Multec injectors, in the '89-01 models, do not need cleaning, and doing so could damage them."

This was taken from Ken's post, which was taken from Charles Probst book "Corvette Fuel Injection."

thing is I went crazy with the injector fluid. I used this cheap gumout injector cleaner from autozone it was like $5. That's when I started having starting issues, but I didn't think it would be the injector cleaner, since that was suppose to do good and clean the injectors. But any how, I finished the tank, filled her up again and added injector cleaner again. I started having starting issues...and at this time, it will not start any more. Cranks just won't start...and it's not the battery. So I assume it's most likely my injectors are damaged? Could they be simply cleaned or should they all be replaced? I'm going to post this as a separate topic, but I do hope you can chime in mech259. Thanks.[/align]

 

Hey mech, I got the timing down thanks, and I believe I have it set at 6 BTDC(I have it set at the 6 below the zero on the balancer...so I assume this is 6 BTDC correct me if I'm wrong). Assuming that's correct, it would seem to me that I lost a lot of low end off the line power..I just don't have much power off the launch as I did before all this happened. Should the timing be set at 6 BTDC, and how do I determine what it should be set at to get my low end power back.

 

6 degrees is right as long as you unplugged the set timing connector. I f you didn't, then the timing will be way retarded.[8D]

 

whoops, i mixed up the timing...suppose to set it to 6 above the zero which is BDTC on the balancer...I did it at night and couldn't read the before after indicators.