buzz2

I have been working on cars for over 30 years and have never seen this one. I bought a 91 lx about 2 years ago never had a problem but lately it has been starting hard and then idling rough. I decided to due some tinkering after reading about 100 post in the forum. First I went to check the timing, when i did i did't even see the timing mark so i started to change from wire to wire until i did and ended up on cylinder #4 is at TDC. Is the dist off a couple teeth or what.

mattdel

i'd say so.
1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8

buzz2

Guess I will have to take plugs out and find TDC #1 cylinder and go from there. I cant believe this thing runs as good as it does. Usually when they are off that much you cant even turn the dist enough to get it to start.

mjr46

if i were you I wouldn't mess with the distributor just yet, you can pop the cap off at the very least and make sure the shaft doesn't wiggle side to side, if it does that'd indicate a worn bushing, seen it a lot in higher mileage 5.0's, anyway first thing I'd do is run a koeo/koer test

mjr46

also, make sure you were using the btdc marks and not the atdc marks, there are two sets on the 5.0, i'd clean the balancer /rust off to view both sets easily

buzz2

koeo 34 koer 44,94

mattdel

34 is EGR/EVP related, 44/94 is air pump system. wouldn't affect anything with timing, as you know.

scatfox331

check the balancer to make sure it hasnt spun on the rubber. i went to time my car and i had to put 100* on the timing light to even see the mark because the outter weight on the balancer had spun.

scatfox331

but that is jus to explain the marks bein that far off not the running rough problem.

buzz2

Well I was using the big notch cut out on balancer like we used to use for older cars, but now I found the marks I need. Looks like #6 plug coating was cracked changed all plugs with cap and rotor now I get 41 and 66 codes. Runs good but seems flat on top end. I plugged everything back together, this is like chasing a ghost.