Well, I just got done installing my new lifters as 4 of the 16 lifters I had just put in were not pumping up oil to the rockers. The new hydraulic lifters were installed with removing the play (slop) between the push rod and the rocker arm with the cam on the heel / lowest part of the lobe. Prior to putting the lifters in, I made sure I put plenty of assembly lube on the cam and bottom of the lifter. I then tightened the adjusting nut one half turn more for the preload. My cam is the original one and the lobes all appeared fine (no rounded off lobes). I guess I should say this is for my 70 El camino SS 396 (402 ci / 350 hp) which had a lifter go bad when we were out in Hershey as it started rapping really bad.

After everything was reassembled, I made sure the distributor was at the #1 plug wire and the #1 cylinder was at top dead center. Today, I tried to start the motor and it started sputtering badly and then stalled out. It tries to start and sputters then dies out again. I pulled the plugs and they appear ok except for the #3 plug which is soaked with gas. The other ones are dry.

Can anyone help me as I need to get my lift freed up so I can start working on my 69 Charger restification to get the front suspension driveable again.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am out of ideas as to what the problem could be.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

Anyone?????:(

I know you said you have the distributor in right, but your problem sounds like that is it, did you turn the engine over when it was apart? Sounds like to me you are 180 degrees off? I would doubble check.Or you may have to just turn it a little, have a friend help, turn it as you crank it.

1. I agree that the distributor may be 180 off.

2. WHAT IS THE CRANKING COMPRESSION? I bought a boat with a 454. The previous owner (a "Ford" guy) tried to adjust the valves, and could never get it running after that. All 16 rockers were so tight that there was 0 compression. I loostened the rockers about a turn and a half, and the boat fired right up.

Well, I made sure that the top dead center was just after the intake closed on the #1 cylinder. I found the #1 wire and adjusted the distributor to where the rotor would be facing where the #1 wire would be. So I am assuming that the distributor is correct.

As for the compression check, I have not done that yet and I think that is a good idea.

One thing I did notice was that I am getting gas at least to the 3,5,7, and 4 cylinders because when I pull the plugs out, they are wet with gas.

Off to check the compression during cranking. If anyone has any other ideas, please keep them coming as I am losing patience with this motor.

Brian

When you are on tdc and you put the dis. in the correct spot make sure you advance it some. I've found if you put it on #1 it will be retarded and not start.

I have advanced and retarded the distributor trying to get it to start. I have not yet tried the compression check yet.

What about using a leak down tester? If I adjust the valves so you just hear a little hissing noise in the intake or out the exhaust and then back off half a turn, would that get the engine fairly close so I can get the engine running at least? This way the valves would be closed when they are supposed to and have just enough on them so when the lobe pushes on the lifter, it would raise the lifter opening the correct valve at the right time with (hopefully) enough adjustment to get the engine to run. Then after I get the engine running, I can fine tune it and get it back to the way it was.

If your engine was running decent before you took it apart, I would say the problem has to be either you put the Dist. in wrong or your valve lifter adjustment is way off (as Schurkey said), keeping the valves open all the time. Will never start if that is so..If Dist. is in wrong you should most likely be hearing back fires

Compression check while engine cranking results:

Cyl. PSI
1 - 190
2 - 190
3 - 190
4 - 190
5 - 190
6 - 190
7 - 175
8 - 180


The factory repair manual says the compression PSI should be 160 psi +/- 20 psi.

Ok, I decided to pull the timing cover off and check to see if the marks lined up or not. The timing gears were the original ones which had the plastic teeth (why they used plastic is beyond me). The cam gear was in good shape but there was about 1/4" of slop in the timing chain, but it was not hitting the inside part of the timing cover. One thing I did notice was that when I was cranking the motor over to line up the marks, one side of the chain was tight and the other had a lot of slop. Could this have been my problem with not getting the engine to fire?

The new timing gear and chain set was installed and had very little play in the chain. A considerable difference compared to the plastic geared one that was in the motor prior to me removing it.

I guess it is time to go back and redo the adjusting of the lifters to make sure they are ok and then check to make sure the distributor is at the #1 cylinder when it is at TDC.

Ok, I just found out some crucial info that should help with the no start on my engine. Let me just get my flame retartand suit on before you start with the "I TOLD YOU" so's. After I checked, rechecked, and double rechecked the distributor to make sure it was on the #1 cylinder wire (and yes, I took off the cap everytime to verify), the distributor was off by 180 degrees. :clonk: This all came about after I decided to take the timing cover off and make sure that the chain did not jump a tooth cause of the wonderful plastic cam gears that GM used. As it turned out, there was about 1/4" worth of slop in the chain. While I had the cover off and had a new set of timing gears, I decided to throw the new chain and gear set in. I then made sure that timing marks alligned up with the new chain and gear set. Check. Today I decided to make sure since everything was still apart that since the timing chain lined up, I may as well double check the #1 cylinder to make sure it is at top dead center. Check. Now came the point that totally has me baffled as I constantly checked this to make sure this was not the problem. I pop the distributor cap off and the rotor is facing towards the firewall. Hmm, last I checked the #1 cylinder wire was toward the front. I took the distributor out and rotated 180 degrees and now it lines up perfectly with everything else. Hopefully now when I reassembly everything, it should fire right up.

Wish me luck ! ! ! ! !

If you installed the cam @ 6 o'clock & crank @ 12 o'clock dot to dot the rotor should be facing the firewall. No. 6 will be TDC on the compression stroke.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you turn the distributor again after you checked TDC? In that case you're back to were you were, aren't you?

The direction of the rotor doesn't really matter, it can point in any direction as long as it points at #1 ignition wire at TDC. Also, there's really no need to pull the distributor if it's 180 degrees off, all you have to do is to move the ignition wires 180 degrees in the cap.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you turn the distributor again after you checked TDC? In that case you're back to were you were, aren't you?

The direction of the rotor doesn't really matter, it can point in any direction as long as it points at #1 ignition wire at TDC. Also, there's really no need to pull the distributor if it's 180 degrees off, all you have to do is to move the ignition wires 180 degrees in the cap.

After I made sure the timing chain gears were lined up, I then checked the piston in the #1 cylinder to make sure it was at top dead center, after I confirmed it was at the top of its stroke, I then checked the distributor to make sure it was at the #1 cylinder wire. It was then that I noted the rotor was facing the firewall which is opposite where the #1 cylinder would have been. To keep everything lining up, I removed the distributor and rotated it 180 degrees to get it lined up to the #1 wire.

As for the direction of the rotor not making a difference, it does. The spark plug wires are a certain length so they have to go to a certain order on the cap. Also, I do not want to go and put the wires on the cap in any order. I would prefer to keep it the way it is supposed to be so there is no question down the road if I do a tune up or have to remove the wires for something.