Chrysler Repair: distributor, chrysler cirrus, hash mark

Question
ive installed  a distributor new on a 96 chrysler cirrus and car wont start but when i put the old one it starts right up  also what dose tdc on cyl 1 mean. maybe thats what im not doing right. please help. call if you can. 773-603-1864

Answer
Hi Lamont,
The tdc on cyl 1 is a custom in the industry whereby when you remove or put back a distributor the engine in set up so that the piston of cylinder 1 is at the top of its stroke (top dead center) with both valves closed (the compression configuration) when the spark is supposed to fire off the mixture. So then you would be able to put the new distributor back down in its hole with the rotor aligned to have its tip pointing directly at the contact tower of the distributor cap to which the wire for that #1 cylinder is attached so that the spark will indeed be sent from the coil to the #1 spark plug when it is settled down into its hole all the way. There is nothing magical, just a convention. If you have the engine running now with the old distributor, then all you have to do is note which way the rotor is pointing when you take off the distributor cap, in fact put some sort of a hash mark nearby to firmly identify that direction and also note which of the 6 internal "towers" of the distributor cap is nearest the rotor and then make sure that the engine doesn't get rotated while the distributor is out by someone trying to start it. Then when the distributor is to be repositioned (either the new or the old) make sure that you configure the rotor and the body of the distributor as close to identically as it was when you removed it. If you do that exactly then it should fire up. Either when you installed the new one it was not aligned exactly as the old one was when you removed it (but then when you reinstalled the old one and it ran it shouldn't have, unless you accidentally reversed an earlier misalignment exactly). If it is running now with the old distributor there is no reason that you shouldn't be able to find it will run with the new one if you put it in exactly the way the old one is now.  If you believe that you have done the alignment properly, then there must be something wrong with the new distributor's electonic pack (hall effect camshaft sensor, or the new spark coil which is built in to the distributor, or its internal wiring). You could check the sensor by doing a fault code readout of the engine controller because if it is bad it would have caused a code 54 to be set in the memory of the engine controller. Do you know how to do that readout? Just go "on-off-on-off-on and leave in the on position", all within 5 seconds or less, with you ingnition key. Then count the flashes between each pause of the check engine light which will begin to start flashing. Group the numbers in pairs to form two digit numbers. The last number is always 55 (meaning end of readout). See if you get a 54 or not (or may be an 11 which is the code for the crankshaft sensor which is not a part of the distributor) will tell you whether the sensor is bad. When you put in the new one again check to see if you are getting spark at any of the plugs. If not, and you don't have a fault code 11 or 54 then there is something wrong with the spark coil or the internal wiring.
So those are my explanations and suggestions. I would lean toward the theory that there is something wrong with the new distributor if you could take it out and reinsert the old distributor and then have the engine run again. I have sometimes done something stupid like forget to replace the rotor. And then not notice that was why the engine wouldn't catch.
Why did you want to replace the old distributor anyway?
Roland