Timing problem

[Mitsch87]

I put a new timing belt on my xr set the crank to TDC set the cam on its mark put the dis. an rotor to #1 put the belt on. Then i turned the crank two turns to make sure everthing hit their marks. Turn the crank back to TDC an the cam mark was 180 off an the rotor was also 180. I set it muilt times an same thing keeps happing. I hope someone can help me out? thanksy67

[Tim Taylor]

Just curious, did you set the crank to TDC prior to removing the old belt (so everything would be aligned as before)?

[hEaT]

Don't the cam and crank rotate differently (cam twice of every 1 crank rotation??) so it's very possible the crank can be at TDC while the cam is not, being 180* out. When the cam is set at TDC, the crank must also be if timed properly.

[tvissoc]

I put a new timing belt on my xr set the crank to TDC set the cam on its mark put the dis. an rotor to #1 put the belt on. Then i turned the crank two turns to make sure everthing hit their marks. Turn the crank back to TDC an the cam mark was 180 off an the rotor was also 180. I set it muilt times an same thing keeps happing. I hope someone can help me out? thanksy67

Sounds like you turned the crank through 2 revs and then a third. That'd put the cam and distributor 180 off. But, that's as it should be. A 4th turn of the crank will have the cam and distributor back at #1 TDC and ready to fire after the compression stroke. 2 revs of the crank is where you want to verify your cam and distributor.

Tony

[adamt85]

Put it on TDC then yank the #1 plug and look in there with a light and see if you can see the piston. if not its off. if it is then pull the distributor and clock it so the rotor is pointing at the #1 plug. then you should be able to crank it and set ignition timing.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Don't the cam and crank rotate differently (cam twice of every 1 crank rotation??)

Just the opposite - one cam rotation for every two rotations of the crank. Regardless, your overall message was right, both crank and cam need to be on point and the disty pointed to #1.

Mostly unrelated, but I recently went through this on a 4.9 straight-6, which has an internally driven cam. With the engine buttoned up, there is no way to tell where the cam is, so I had to keep taking the distributor out and rotating it 180 degrees. This wouldn't have been so bad, except I was trouble-shooting an unknown ignition issue, so every time I made a change, I had to pop the distributor out and spin it 180 degrees. Ultimately I found that the coil was bad - ya know, the coil that just about never fails so it was the last thing I tried? Yea, that coil.

[merk23literturbo]

http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/lyzcoinc/timing.html

[XR4ti614]

http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/lyzcoinc/timing.html

That write up was very helpful, except rotor should point at 4 o'clock? I thought #1 is more like at 7 o'clock?
http://www.fixya.com/cars/t5510460-firi ... _ford_2_3l


Trying to diagnose my timing issue post head install. Put crank pulley at TC, point rotor at #1(7 o'clock), used the string method to time cam. Cranks, but no start and backfires after about 10 seconds.

Update: Thought I might be 180 out so I 180's it. Doing the same thing. Only tried starting it twice. Here's my firing order(If the link works)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... ater&ifg=1