Posted by chriscase on Saturday, September 03, 2005 at 11:09AM :
In Reply to: O. T. Timing a diesel posted by David Sherman on Saturday, September 03, 2005 at 4:57AM :
Do a cylinder balance test first. Disable injector pump (wire or throttle cable, do what it does to shut down). Then crank engine, it should have a boring rhythm- wump, wump, wump, wump. If it goes wump, wump, erk, wump, you have poor compression in one hole. How are your valves adjusted?
The fact that it will even run before and after turning the dist 180, makes me think you have injector lines crossed.
Like spark plug wires on a gas motor, you can find weak holes with the injector lines. With engine idling, Try loosening one line at a time. Fuel will barely drip. Each should cause the same loss of speed- no loss, thats a bad hole. 2 bad holes next to each other, bad head gasket? 2 of no loss, not adjacent, switch lines between them?
Having crossed lines means fuel is being injected into a cylinder that is not compressing. The fuel can then explode next time the piston compresses, waaay earlier than it should. Pushes that piston down while it is still on the way up. Massive loss of power..so not just one dead hole, it also eats up the power from the other holes that work. Crossed lines give 2 dead holes....
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