Hey very new here. So i have a 93 accord lx thats been acting up a bit lately. Its pretty loud but thats not the point right now. 2 days ago my brother took off the distributor for sum dumb reason now the car wont start it wont even turn over alittle. He didnt mark it as they say , he didnt remember the plug order even though im sure i can figure that out. I just no nothing about timing and im told its probably off. How can i adjust the timing on the distributor? But all in all, what should i do?

 

On the 90-93s there is a plug in the bellhousing that needs to be pulled out to see the timing marks for the ignition. Base ignition timing is set by lining up the timing marks with the red mark on the driveplate(AT)/flywheel(MT). There are also white marks, but these are for TDC, and are for timing belt alignment. You do not want to set your ignition timing to this as it will be too retarded, and the engine will be sluggish.


The distributor can only go on one way. Install it and note where the rotor is pointing. On the distributor cap one of the towers will be marked with either an A1 or 1, this is #1 cylinder.

If the rotor is pointing 180* away from #1 then the tower it is pointing to is cylinder #4. Firing order is 1-3-4-2. Cylinder numbering is [Dist] 4-3-2-1.

Turn the engine on and let it warm up, let the cooling fans come on twice.
Turn the car off, pull the two wire blue connector from the kick panel out and jumper it with a wire.
Turn the engine on and with a timing light verify correct timing with the red mark. It should be very close if not dead nuts.

 

Keep in mind that it is possible to actually jam the distributor in the wrong way...though it is normally unlikely. If you have to jam the distributor into the head you're putting it in 180 degrees off. You should remove it right now and check the distributor shaft to see if the slot is lining up with the slot in the head. You will see that the slot is offset to allow for it to go into the head correctly. Just look at it closely.

 

Okay thanks alot im going to try this now. Im pretty sure i understand what your saying but just want to know where exactly the rotor should point?

 

Actually we did have trouble getting it back on. It didnt seem to fit into the slot that well even it seemed like it would fit perfectly. Maybe your right and it was off. Ill keep that in mind.

 

The engine turns the same direction as the drive wheels when driving forward. When looking at the distributor from the right side(passenger side in US), it will turn clockwise.

Line up the red mark with the timing mark on the flywheel/driveplate, this is base mechanical timing. The engine is either at TDC #1 or TDC #4. If you want to you can pull the upper timing belt cover off, but IMO there is no need, the cam sprocket will either be 'UP'(#1TDC) or upside down(#4TDC).


With the crank lined up with the red mark, you will want to line up your rotor as best you can to the appropriate tower. You can do this by installing the cap and with a marking marking #1(or #4 depending on which one it lines up with) tower location on the distributor, remove the cap, and then rotate the distributor to best line up your mark with the rotor. This should get you pretty close to base ignition timing.