timing issues

[yno26galant]

now I just replace my timing chain with a new one, now Iined the crank pully with the timining marks on the timing cover to 0degres. marked out a line on the cam chain too, pulled out the distributor at tdc and now not firing and a slight back firing, im not sure what it is. I put the timing gear to number cyclinder, and still not starting

[75wagon]

I've always found the best way to sort these problems is to start at the beginning.
Question and check everything you have done.

Stupid question, are you sure you have all the leads on in the correct order?

Dave...

[yno26galant]

yeah ive the the lead on clock wise 1 to 4 going around.

[GB_BB4C]

yeah ive the the lead on clock wise 1 to 4 going around.

am I reading this as you have the leads on the dizzy cap going 1 - 2 - 3 - 4, coz it should be on there as 1 - 3 - 4 - 2 going around clockwise

[yno26galant]

that could be my problem!?

[Scorpma82]

BBC is correct, the dizzy runs on the firing order, not numeric order

[yno26galant]

So I've got the ingnition timing done now. Now it's like my battery is dead and not getting full cranking speed, I've used a muti meter on the post and getting a reading of 12.5volts. I've heard maybe the starter motor gets lazy...? It cranks at normal speed the stops completely and then cranks really slow.

[LukeAussie]

Nice one on getting the timing chain done. Firing order is an easy trap! I did my chain this weekend too, though didn't have the shiny links to align - it's possible to do by measuring the mark on the camshaft pulley to 42 degrees from the head at TDC. Just FYI in case you don't get a chain with two marks next time :-)

With the battery issue, that sounds a little strange. So does the starter motor run at the normal speed, or is it gradually slowing down to dead? Measure the voltage across the battery before, during and after attempting to start, and see what happens. 12.5 is fairly low but should still start. If you see the charge drop to 10V or less on trying to start, and then take a while to recover, it could well be the battery. But if you're getting the starter motor to crank as normal, it could be a different issue entirely.

For instance, if the starter motor starts to speed up (more than usual) and sound like it's missing, you probably have a timing advance/retard issue (the car is firing and spinning the starter motor faster than it should). Let us know the details...

Good luck!

[Scorpma82]

When you went to start the car, was the weather cold????

Batteries don't like cold weather and won't crank as efficiently as it would if it were in warmer weather

[LukeAussie]

Hey there yno, how did you go with the timing issues? Was it the battery that died? Look forward to hearing more!

[yno26galant]

hey sorry guys, yeah no my ignition timing was out, superscan showed me a very simple way how to do it. it is started very first turn over, timing is all sweet but one problem ive discovered that my timing case has a hair line crack in the centre of it looks like I have to pull that timing case off again, pain in the ass

[Scorpma82]

What a turd...but hey, at least you found the problem and comparitively speaking, not a very complicated/expensive repair...just fiddly