QuestionI have set the firing order right after I replaced the Cap & Rotor in the midst of doing a tune up. Car started before the tune up, now? Nothing! I know the firing order, I am pretty sure the driver side bank is odd and the passsenger is even. Any suggestions?
AnswerI'm very sorry to be so slow in responding - I did not see your question until just this moment - something is going wrong on the AllExperts site and they are not sending out the questions to me again (this has happened many times before!)
To get to your question: Yes, you seem to have the firing order and the cylinder numbering correct, but just to review for others that might be listening to us, the firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, and the cylinders are numbered 1-3-5-7 front to rear on the driver's side, and 2-4-6-8 on the passenger side, front to rear.
Next, you need to check that the plug wires start out at the correct hole in the cap, and progress around in the correct direction of rotation.
To check this, make a note of where the #1 plug wire plugs into the cap, and then take the cap off. Next, rotate the engine until the timing mark on the crank pulley lines up with the TDC timing mark. Now, look at the rotor - is it pointed at #1 plug wire's location? If it is not, see if it is pointed at #6's location (exactly opposite the #1 position.) It should be at one or the other of those positions.
Also, note the direction of rotation of the rotor when you crank the starter, and make sure that you have installed the plug wires in order using that same direction of rotation.
Also, if you have had the distributor out of the engine, there is a chance you do not have the distributor back in so that it is timed right. As you may be aware, the crankshaft goes around twice for each rotation of the distributor, so there is a 50-50 chance of getting the distributor back in 180 degrees out of time. I'll assume you did not remove the distributor from the engine, but if you did, post a follow up question to me and I'll help you get it all back right again.
If you complete all of the above, and it still won't run, there is some other problem and we'll have to do some more detective work, but there are so many possiblities I could type all night here and still not hit on the right one!
SO, check as above, and then get back to me if that doesn't clear it up for you.
Dick
