Basic question about dist. cap and rotor

[surreybc]

re. 1992 240sx



1. Timing question: I had my distributor out today as I was removing timing chain guides. I have the crankshaft postioned so timing pin points at the tdc mark on pulley. My distributor rotor is pointed at the no. 4 cylinder. I assume this is ok? Just 360 degrees off?
2. The picture below shows my dist. cap. It seems to be missing the center piece? The would start but ran extremely weak and smooth. I put another dist. cap on but car would not start at all. I assume my battery is weak.


3. this is my rotor. never seen one with a hole in it but it has worked.

[surreybc]

changed rotor, jump started and reset computer but car does not start. only turns over.

[Bomber 570]

Chances are your not getting spark, check your connections and make sure everything is grounded properly.

[ka-turbo]

My distributor rotor is pointed at the no. 4 cylinder. I assume this is ok?

i believe your tdc when you did it you should of went anothe 360 on crank pulley soo that it is on compreesion stroke and your distributor woul be poitning at cylinder 1

[surreybc]

My distributor rotor is pointed at the no. 4 cylinder. I assume this is ok?

i believe your tdc when you did it you should of went anothe 360 on crank pulley soo that it is on compreesion stroke and your distributor woul be poitning at cylinder 1

I think so.

[surreybc]

The center terminal on my old dist. cap seems to have fallen off while I had it off. I think that is why my car ran so weakly when I first tried to start car.
I tried a new dist. cap but car does not start (only cranks). I'm thinking I ruined the distributor somehow.

Not sure why there is a hole in my dist. rotor. I know that was there when I took distributor out of car so my car runs with that hole existing in rotor.( i have tried a new rotor to no avail)

[surreybc]

hmmmm I wonder if my car could be flooded. would it remain flooded the next day?

[Silverstreek]

maybe this will help?
Technical Articles: 240sx Distributor Timing (http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=161707)

[surreybc]

maybe this will help?
Technical Articles: 240sx Distributor Timing (http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=161707)

That is the article I followed originally. thanks. My timing is fine. the center terminal of my dist. cap fell out while I had the cap off. The car ran a bit with this faulty dist. cap.., but I think I damaged something or flooded car as I can't start with new distributor cap.

[surreybc]

delete delete. delete

[surreybc]

Must have been flooded because it now works perfectly where it didnt work at all before. exact same setting with nothing touched. worked fine on at least half the tooth. i guess just running it with bad timing can flood it.
if i had just pulled dist. out and not moved anything i think i would be fine. all my marks were exactly the same the first time i tried with broken dist. cap. the dist. gear rotates coming out but rotates the same amount in opposite direction going in.

never flooded car before this.

[Dream240]

Must have been flooded because it now works perfectly where it didnt work at all before. exact same setting with nothing touched. worked fine on at least half the tooth. i guess just running it with bad timing can flood it.
if i had just pulled dist. out and not moved anything i think i would be fine. all my marks were exactly the same the first time i tried with broken dist. cap. the dist. gear rotates coming out but rotates the same amount in opposite direction going in.

never flooded car before this.

A piece of advice. Whenever you are pulling the dist out of the head, DON'T ROTATE THE SHAFT!!! Unless you're doing a timing chain job, you shouldn't ever need to reset your timing.

Also, I'm pretty sure that your main problem was the dist cap. Once you pulled it out and the center tip broke off, rotted off, etc. you needed a new one. But then you started messing with the timing and kept trying to start the car with the timing off, hence the flooding. You just kept dumping fuel into the cylinders with no spark. You should only ever cank your motor about 3 times max. If it doesn't start after that, stop cranking!

Usually when you replace the dist. cap, you should replace the rotor too. The best OE replacements out there, IMO, are Borg/Warner, and Nippon/Denso.