HELP! I screwed something up!

[Breakstuff5050]

Ok dudes, figure this one out...my truck was running a little rough so i decided to tune'er up. I replaced the plugs, plug wires, distributer cap and rotor. While i was changing the plugs and wires i did them one at a time so that i didnt mix them up. then i did the cap last and for that i held the new cap up to the old one and put each wire on the proper plug. Well, now i get absolutley no fire when trying to start, but the plugs are sparking! So then i went to the autopart store and told them my problem and i ended up w\ a diagram of the firing order, it turns out the wires are two "prongs" off on the cap, but in the right order, i got it right and still nothing. Im stumped, HELP! Can anyone point me to a downloadable manual for a 93' chevy 4.3L 6 cylinder?

[tony-amps]

adam,

you need to pull the plug on cyl # 1 . Find top dead center. then look at the rotor and make sure its # 1

tony

[Dennis C]

	Quote: Originally Posted by tony-amps
	adam, you need to pull the plug on cyl # 1 . Find top dead center. then look at the rotor and make sure its # 1 tony

DITTO

[66stang]

Make sure your doing the firing order in the right directions on the cap.. I know fords and chevy's are not the same... Some are clock wise & some are counter clockwise. But first make sure you have it on top dead center on the compression stroke. Stick a wadded up paper towl in the number 1 cylinder spark plug hole. Bump the key until it pops out. Now your on the compression stroke. Then the piston will need to be at the top of the cylinder. The rotor need to be pointing at the number one cylinder wire. Then you need the correct direction on the cap. I beleive it's clock wise. Then you will need to set yout timing. Hope this help.

[Breakstuff5050]

O man guys, yall wont beleive this. Ok, so my dad finally decided to help, and he suggested we should turn it over while spraying some starter fluid into the carb to see if it fires, if it did then we would have a fuel problem. He was spraying and i was turning the key and the next thing i know i hear it backfire LOUD! Following that was a flame ball and i run around and there was fire coming out of the carb, i ran and got the closest fire extenguisher (spelling?) and it turns out the extenguisher i grab didnt work ... then my dad smuthered it with a towel which luckily was'nt soaked with any kind of starter fluid or gas. So that was kinda scarey. After a look over it turns out we blew the gaskets out from the valve covers and blew out what i guess is a sensor coming out the top on one side on the valve cover.


But this isnt the end, now my dad came up with the bright idea of using a screwdriver to feel for the cylinder position so we can check the timing. Next thing i know the cylinder has sandwiched the flat tip somehow and the screw driver STUCK ...so tomorrow we'll back the engine up manually to unsandwich it. Maybe i should have mentioned 66stang's method first.

[Plowman]

AS A CHEVY TECH, I AGREE. PULL #1 PLUG, (FRT ON DRIVERS SIDE) , UNPLUG THE COIL TO DISABLE SPARK AND STICK YOUR FINGER INTO THE PLUG HOLE. HAVE A BUDDY BUMP THE STARTER OVER A LITTLE AT A TIME UNTIL YOU FEEL AND HEAR THE COMPRESSION. THEN SPIN THE CRANK WITH A 5/8 SOCKET AND RATCHET CLOCKWISE AND LINE UP THE MARK ON THE CRANK PULLY WITH THE TIMING INDICATOR ON THE TIMING COVER. NOTCH LINES UP WITH THE DEEP V IN THE TIMING COVER. NOW THE DISTRIBUTOR WILL POINT TO #1 ON THE CAP. THEN INSTALL YOUR WIRES STARTING WITH #1. THE DISTRIBUTOR SPINS CLOCKWISE AND THE FIRING ORDER IS 1-6-5-4-3-2. HOPE THIS HELPS. DAN.

[Plowman]

THAT SUCKS!!!!! ETHER CAN DO LOTS OF DAMAGE REALLY QUICK. KEEP YOUR DAD AWAY!!!!

[Breakstuff5050]

	Quote:
	THEN SPIN THE CRANK WITH A 5/8 SOCKET AND RATCHET CLOCKWISE AND LINE UP THE MARK ON THE CRANK PULLY WITH THE TIMING INDICATOR ON THE TIMING COVER.

So you're saying the crank pully has marks on it that says where the rotor should be set to when at that position?

[66stang]

That would be tdc on the harmonic balancer. Or zero.

[66stang]

Also when working on cars, truck, Etc. Get a Hanes manual from Auto Zone. $15 bucks beats a hole through your piston.

[Plowman]

YOU GOT IT!! THERE USUALLY IS ONLY 1 GROOVE. ALIGN IT WITH THE CENTER OF THE DEEP V IN THE FRT COVER AND THE DISTRIBUTOR WILL POINT TO #1. BUT THE ENGINE HAS TO BE ON THE #1 COMPRESSION STROKE, NOT EXHAUST. THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE FINGER IN THE HOLE THING.

[Jaybird]

danp has it dead on. It's easy to tell when you are at TDC on the compression stroke with the finger covering the plug hole method.