2nd gen starts rough-HELP

[irving3d]

I bought my mighty max with broken valve seals and a blown headgasket now that i replaced all of that I couldnt get it to start, it would just crank. after messing with the distributor a bit i got it to start but its rough. i have yet to check my timing marks but i never took off my belt just left the cam gear on the motor and the belt never lost tension. Im thinking it is the fuel injector harness plugs because i just plugged them in randomly and didnt take any pictures :/ will someone please take a picture of their injector plugs so i can compare? i did both of the brown plugs at the ends and the black ones in the middle. or if you think its something else feel free to give me advice

[irving3d]

update: i turned it over again and it ran fine for a solid three seconds then died

[ragragtimetime]

getting a timing light on it will help rule out many issues (didn't want to replace your belt while you had it torn down that far?). is it at all possible the belt jumped a tooth on another lower sprocket, did you remove distributor & maybe it jumped a tooth, did you cross firing order (wires)? does it run any better when warmed up? any strange color smoke or smell from exhaust? all fluid levels ok? what do the plugs look like after running?

[BradMph]

Ya I agree with ragragtime, I'm sure your timing is not right yet. Dropping distributor make sure the 2 dots are lined up on the gear to the casing. Timing on these motors is sort of a PIA but get it right once and you'll always get it right.
Sounds like she stop receiving fuel if it was running fine for that short time.

[irving3d]

i did take out my distributor, i replaced the o rings and forgot to add any marks (i know, i know). it was way off at first and couldnt even get it started but i took it out again and now it starts for a bit. how do i know if im on the right tooth? do i just keep taking it out and guessing? and the order of the plugs on the injectors doesn't matter then?

[BradMph]

Put your engine at TDC #1 piston on the compression stroke. When the #1 piston is on it's compression stroke and TDC, the first 2 valve rockers will be in a relaxed position. I check them by removing my oil cap and inserting my finger and rattle one of the two rockers. This is on the 86 2.0L. Removing valve cover is the other way to make sure the first 2 rockers are relaxed. Make sure the crankshaft pulley is at TDC. Now that the engine is at this position, your distributor rotor should be pointing at the No.1 piston spark plug wire. This shows that the engine is right at the point it would fire the fuel in the cylinder 1 on it's end of the compression stroke, as the distributor crosses the #1 plug wire to ignite the fuel. If your not pointing dead nuts to the #1 spark plug wire on the distributor cap, you will need to re-drop the dizzy.
The distributor has a couple dot marks for dropping it in correctly. On the bottom gear of the distributor you will find a tiny tiny dot mark on the gear side. It wil be on one of the gear teeth. The lineup mark on the housing is what it lines up with. When these 2 marks are lined up your rotor is pointing in the correct position to install the distributor. Hold the rotor and dizzy and insert the unit and be sure the rotor does not move. It will try when it finds the gear mesh in the engine first before the distributor is completely in. You may have to try a couple time to get the teeth to mesh and the distributor pointed right at that #1 cap plug wire spot. Be sure to snug the dizzy down in the middle of it's setting spot made by factory. This way you have both directions to adjust the timing and it has the best chance to start the engine.

[irving3d]

ok, went back and re checked my timing, and i think ive got it pretty close. Still looking for the right sequence of the injector plugs. Found an old thread asking for the same thing but it looks like he never got an answer

[Merrill]

The firing order is 1-3-4-2. I'm pretty sure the distributor rotates clock-wise if you are standing on the driver's side, staring directly at the distributor. The injector order is the same. If you have verified the timing, and you still have issues, it is possible you have connected the wrong clips to the wrong injectors. I'd verify all the wire colors with you if I could, but I have no truck right now. Maybe someone else here can tell you which injector is which.

[irving3d]

ok, so i got it running pretty good now, but i still think the injector plugs are in the wrong order, so if anyone wants to help me double check that by letting me know where each one goes thatd be much appreciated! regardless thanks to all of you that helped me get my truck running again, made my whole situation so much easier

[Merrill]

With the firing order all messed up, the plugs were probably soaked pretty bad, you may want to toss in a fresh set.

The manuals will have the correct wiring colors if nobody can chime in.