I'm wondering what reasons there are that can cause the timing to go off on my car? The only thing I did was take off the distributor and now the car wont start and looks like the timing is off. I'd just like to know any reasons, so any info would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

When I take the dizzy off to change it or whatever, I normally mark it with a shaprie to ensure it goes in the same position as it came off in. I've seen people install the dizzy, then wiggle/rotate it. This will for sure cause your ignition timing to be off.

 

Have someone try and start the car while you advance/retard your distributor until it starts.

If it doesn't start check your electrical plug connecting to the distributor or make sure you have the wires in the right firing order.

 

lookd at my cam gears and the up arrow is way off...i dnt kno how dat could of happend..dang!

 

Ignition timing and cam timing are two different things. Your engine timing is OK, it's your ignition timing that's off. Do as Hill4589 to get the engine started. Then, perform an ignition timing to get it to spec.

 

so what ur sayin is my engine timing is still good?...because the up arrow on my cam gears are not both positioned in the same direction...

 

i looked at a friends gsr motor and both up arrows on the cam gears are facing the same direction....mine isnt..ones facing 5 oclock and the other 7 oclock

 

Sorry I miss read your post. Sounds like it may have skipped a few tooth? Bad tensioner? Sounds like you're in for a timing belt job. Replace the tensioner with the spring, and change out the water and oil pump while you're at it. At least that's I did.

 

Can taking of the dizzy and when putting it back but not setting the dizzy to tdc cause my timing to go off like this? Here's a pic with the up arrows circled in red. All I did was take out the dizzy for someone to barrow and then put back on.

 

Let me clarify that the car ran fine before the dizzy was taken out. And when the dizzy was installed back on I cranked it a bunch of times trying to start the car with no luck. I don't know much about setting the dizzy to tdc but was wondering if that has anything to do with it. My only option now is to fix the timing belt with everything at tdc. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

its definitely out of time. rotate the motor to top dead center on cylinder 1 and look at the marks then, see how far off they are. if its too many teeth you might have bigger problems. why it happened? you wont know until you pull the timing cover. if only a couple of teeth off, replace the belt, tensioner, and water pump. and if your feeling ambitious, the front seals also.

 

also, you didnt install the distributor wrong. i know the end is offset, but ive seen it go in both ways.

 

I have a hard time trying to find out why it is how it is. When it worked it work so I'm sure I didn't drive it like that. And it started no problem. I think the picture pretty much explains why my car isn't starting because of the timing. The belt fits on pretty snug so I have a hard time seeing it jump a bunch of tooths. I dont know, it prob jump when I was cranking all those times trying to start it up. (which is hard to see too) Which was a lot of cranking because i tried after switching starter, relays, etc.

 

The b20vtec swap was done about 2-3 years ago. Bought the car with the swap already. So timing belt and waterpump is about 2-3 years old. i just don't know about the tensioner because some people bypass buying a new tensioner.

 

It doesn't really matter how long ago it was done. The fact remains, it out of time. You're still gonna have to pull the timing cover to fix it, so reset the base mechanical timing and see what happens. Don't worry about the water pump if you don't want to. I would still rotate the motor to tdc to see how far off it is.

 

Thats what I'm gonna have to do, replace the timing belt. I was searching online and some people say to turn the key on the dizzy 180 degrees, that was prob the reason it didn't start but I don't know how the timing belt and cam gear got off timed.

 

fixed the timing and made sure the rotor was facing #1 piston.

 

How did you end up fixing it?
Im just having the same problem