I messed something up

[AngelSixx]

Hi all,

I just bought an 85 vette and decided to do a tuneup on it. New cap, rotor, plugs wires etc. started it up ran fine.. Decided to set the timing and after much hard work and frustration, i managed to loosen the distributor bolt. I unplugged wire to put it in bypass mode and turned the distibutor so that the timing was set at 6 deg BTC. then tightened the distributor bolt back down and reconnected the wire. I started the car up and it was running very badly, checked the timing with wire connected and the mark is jumping all over the place. Lots of smoke comes out of the exhaust and it smells really strong like gasoline. Fumes were so bad it makes my eyes burn. Idle jumps all around and just plain runs badly. Afraid to drive it to the shope even. Any chance anyone out there might have any ideas?

P.S. this was the first time I have ever done a tuneup and i'm also a fist time vette owner. Any help would be greatly appreciated.:confused

 

[Robertwav1]

Re loosen the distributor...set the timing up by ear until the engines smooths out...you can tell. Make sure te engine is warm. You didn't mention the miles on the car....but...it's quite possible that there is some wear in the timing chain and or distributor therefor you cannot set it to specs. This is not uncommon with an older vehicle. I have had many vehicles that did not respond well when setting the timing because of wear.

 

[Moonunit 451]

I'd check and make sure you didn't knock off a plug wire somehow, sounds like you could be missing a hole or two. Recheck all your work, let us know how it goes. Good luck and welcome to the

 

[geekinavette]

The outer ring of your balancer could've slipped...throwing the timing mark off. I know this is a common problem with 84s...don't know if the 85 balancer is any different.

How to tell....remove the #1 spark plug, turn the engine over slowly (I use a socket on the balancer bolt, it's easiest if you remove all the plugs so you're not fighting compression) until you feel pressure from the #1 spark plug hole. Keep turning the engine slowly until the #1 piston is at the top of it's stroke (you should be able to feel the top of the piston with the tip of a screwdriver in the plug hole). At this point the timing mark on the pointer should be very close to being lined up with zero degrees on the pointer.

How far did you have to move the distributor to get it to 6 deg?

Bill

 

[Dave C. '04 Z06]

If I remember, my friend had an '85 and he set his timing to 8-10 degrees. Maybe you can try this?

-Dave C.

 

[AngelSixx]

First thank you everyone for the help. I tried all of your suggestions and still no go. I'm getting a code 43 and a code 45. I looked in the service manual and tested the voltage at the B7 terminal and it is 9.38 Supposedly if you get over 6 volts it's a bad ECM. Any oe have any experience in this area? Symptoms are the same as in the original post, it's surging really rich exhaust etc. Also when you hit the gas, it tops out at like 2400 rpm. I am totally stumped and at my wits end on this one.

 

[cntrhub]

See if you can see the original pinch marks on the distributor? Just set the distributor back to that position. If it ran fine without your distrbutor movement, I doubt you have anything going south? Remove the negative battery cable and clear those codes. I'd also pull the bypass wire and clip it back in just to make contact again. Check your wiring again. Follow the distributor wires to each cylinder and make sure you have them sequenced in.