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I have just finished putting everything back together after replacing my timing belt. I insured i lined up both TDC on the cam shaft and crankshaft and turned over my engine by hand to ensure everything was in time internally and no knocking was happening between the valves and the pistons.

Now it has come to timing the distributor however i cannot even get the engine to turn over for more than 1 second. Because of this i cannot even get a chance to begin timing it with a gun. The sound is best described as first like the engine is knocking internally causing it to jam only to fade into the sound of a flat battery.

However it cannot be knocking. As as soon as i take out my spark plugs (leaving all the distributor+leads etc in) the engine turns over fine even shooting petrol out the spark plug shafts)

So this can only be a problem of the distributor timing right? Any suggestions on what i can do to get it to turn over long enough to time it? I have tried adjusting the angle of the distributor many times, only to get it turn over about 1 more revolution.... obviously not long enough

I am a first time forum(er?) and forgive me if this is answered somewhere else i couldn't see it. Many thanks in advance. Hope i can sort this out before Friday as someone is driving long distance to purchase and pick up my car this weekend :S

 

[NeonPinHead]

the car ran fine prior to you replacing the timing belt? TDCing the motor is pretty straight forward. CAM pulley should have the "UP" facing up and the plastic arrow to the left pointing at the diagonal line going through the pulley. The white mark on the under drive pulley should be lining up in between the plastic "V" point on the timing belt cover.one you have these 2 lined up, tighten the timing belt tensioner and turn the motor by hand/ratchet, once the motor turns 360 degrees the two marks should line up again, if not loosen the tensioner, readjust, and give it another spin until you get it right...

 

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Car was running, had warped my head but had it crack tested and machined to spec.

Yeah i had lined up everything and turned the engine over many times by hand to ensure no valves would hit. I'm fairly sure it is not to do with the engine timing? Because other wise i wouldn't be able to turn it over endlessly. It's only with the spark plugs in it that it stops turning?

 

[NeonPinHead]

by hand it wont turn with the spark plugs in? or it wont start?

 

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Ok so foolishly when tightening the cam belt it has jumped one tooth. I have fixed it now but it still wont start. Doing a compression test later today to see if i have bent any valves. If it's not this i'm so puzzled.

 

[NeonPinHead]

yeah it tends to do that every time I'e TDCed a motor. some white out makes easy work of this problem. I never tried starting a car ehrn it was not perfectly TDCed but I don't think it would bend a valve.