I have not been able to start my BJ8 since last year when I replaced the
starter. The engine cranks, the spark plugs fire, there is fuel in the carbs
and fuel lines but the car refuses to start. This has been a problem that has
plagued my car since I bought it many years ago.
I decided to go for the basics and try to set timing manually and remove the
valve cover to check valve clearance as I rotated the engine.
I connected a lamp at the coil and the grounded the other side. I rotated the
engine by hand to TDC - crank pulley mark matched up to timing indicator on
timing case. Turned ignition on and the light did not come on. I rotated the
engine to 10 deg BTDC (with ignition still on) and the light still did not come
on. I started rotating the engine clockwise until the light came on. This
happened when the crank pulley mark was approximately 2" past TDC.
My question to the group is does this mean that cam timing is off (way off)
because of a problem with the timing chain which I suspect is the original with
80k miles on it. Or is the distributor stuck in wrong? The distributor was
rebuilt a couple of years ago and reinstalled by my mechanic. It did run after
that but it was always very difficult to start.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Jorge
PS - The points were replaced with a Pertronix unit a few years ago.
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