Thread: My VE has the flu. HELP!

Hey guys, my car stopped on me last night for no apparent reason & needed to be towed home. That day (prior to the incident) I changed the spark plugs, oil, Cap & rotor. This morning the car started up just fine. WTF? I re-checked all the plugs, cap & rotor and all seems well. I check the timing & HOLY SHIFT... it was OVER 25 degrees when It should have been 12. WTF? So I go to set timing back to 12 but at full counter-clockwise turn (as far as the distributor can go), it will not get under 15. I have never seen this before & I'm completely lost. What could be wrong? The motor runs but I'm scared to drive it. Has anyone had a problem like this?

could it be a tooth off on the cam gears?

could be the this http://www.sr20forum.com/sr20de-technical-corner/213851-code-21-no-spark-coil-dizzy.html

^ That happened to a guy i know last week.

There are actually 2 pieces to the crank pulley separated and held together by a rubber layer. Sometimes the pieces separate and this can result in strange timing values because the outer ring with the timing marks is no longer correctly positioned with the inner ring that is still properly oriented to the crank. This is one possibility for the strange timing reading.

The other possibility is that the exhaust cam is not correctly oriented to the crank (chain skipped a tooth or was not correctly installed).

Neither of these would really explain why the car shut down and then started back up overnight. Check all your wires and look inside the distributor cap again to make sure all is well with the rotor and cap. If you have a spare distributor you might try swapping it in also.

Sorry for the delayed reply guys (my drama never ends) . I pulled the distributor cap the rotor isn't in the correct position. There's also a lot of play, (about a fifth of a turns worth) with the rotor secured to the shaft. I don't believe I've ever been able to actually move the rotor, once secured, before. Either way It's not at or near TDC as it should be. Could that mean a skipped tooth or bad distributor? Hopefully it's the prior . What would cause the tooth to skip or, worse case scenario break, if this is the problem?

I'm working my odd weekend hours right now so time is sparse. Hopefully I can get a more detailed check (vale cover off) going on Monday. Thanks for the info guys. I feel better with the knowledge gained. I'll keep you updated as I go.

The rotor shouldn't move very much at all -- it sounds like something is wrong. The distributor shaft only fits into the exhaust cam one way -- it's a blade and slot arrangement at the bottom of the shaft. If the rotor is turning, either the rotor is not properly attached to the shaft, or the shaft is broken. I think it unlikely that you could turn the exhaust cam with the rotor, so it has to be something between the rotor and the bottom of the distributor shaft.

That's what I figured but I wasn't sure. Thanks Bro.

I've seen people snap the ears off the exhaust cam before.

EUREKA! The center screw of the distributor was loose. I disassembled the unit to make sure there was no internal damage & all was good. Reassembled, installed & the old girl's VVLin' again. Thanks for all the input guys.