cc1979

Hey all. I have a 1979 Euro 928 manual trans. I recently replaced the timing belt and water pump and all the front seals. I then went to time it and have it right on 31 degrees BTDC at 3000 w/ the vacuum line pulled. It seems to run real smooth in the upper RPM's but it dies at around 1300 RPM. It won't start unless I give it a little gas and have to hold it above that 1300 or it chokes down. I looked at the intake seal where the air intake attaches and that looks a little questionable. I also marked the distributor before replacing the timing belt and now when I time it I am almost maxing out the adjustment tipping the distributor all the way toward the front of the car. Could that be different just with where the new timing belt is lined up or do I likely have something else off or doing something wrong as I time it? After reading some threads it seems like a potential vacuum leak could be my issue. I just don't have any clue how to track down vacuum leaks so I'm hoping for some guidance on the first things to check and potentially how to do it.

A few weeks before the timing belt change I had changed the spark plugs and the guy recommended a dab of dielectric grease on the spark plugs so I did that as well. It still ran fine after but in doing research around this some were saying that I shouldn't have done put dielectric grease on the plug. Just trying to provide anything I can think of.

Thanks so much for the help and advice. Anxious to get her back on the road now that the weather has finally turned here.

Silver79

I would probably recheck your camshaft to crankshaft timing and make sure that is correct. Did the timing marks line up correctly before you replaced the belt?

belgiumbarry

if i understand correctly you have now your distributor at max retard in the slotted hole .... and still 31° at 3000 rpm ?
Look at WS.... i think you need 23 ° at 3000 rpm ? Did you remove the distributor ? and have it mounted correct ( TDC - rotor at mark )

The Forgotten On

Your distributor is 1 tooth off on its gear connected to the camshaft (the hint was you maxing the timing to get it to run) . Pull it out and rotate it.

I've done this before when my 81 needed its green wire replaced and installed it 1 tooth off by accident..

Petza914

Agree. Because of the angle of the distributor gear it has to be inserted in a starting position that looks wrong for it to be lined up with the indicator mark once fully inserted. It should be in the middle of the adjustment slot when properly timed, not near either end.

Mrmerlin

post a picture of the timing damper lined up to TDC,
and the distributor rotor pointing at the center of the hash mark

cc1979

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll give that a try and report back. I really thought the distributor was lined up at cylinder 1 when I installed it.

cc1979

As I think this through I'm just not confident I'm going to rotate this the right direction. When timing, as I kept rotating the distributor towards the front of the car it would finally just reach 31 degrees. Do I need to pull the distributor out and rotate it back or rotate it forward towards the front of the car one tooth?

Mrmerlin

Put the engine the top dead center pull the right hand cam tower to verify that the cam is that the notch and the damper is lined up a top dead center remove the distributor cap and look and see where the rotors pointing on the distributor body there’s a #somewhere on there and that rotor should point to it that should be centered on it pull the distributor out and turn the road or so that it’s lined up with that and then fit the distributor so that you have it more or less centered on the alignment bolt so that you can turn it in advance or retard

cc1979

Thanks for the advice again all. I did line it all up at TDC and opened up the cap. I didn't see anything but a slight crease in the distributor that may have been indicating #1 cylinder. Any ways I moved it one tooth and put it back at as close to where I could get it before I started this whole undertaking and it fired right up. I was just thrown off because the timing light was showing 31 degrees even if it was a tooth off. I don't know enough to know how or why that would be but either way adjusting it one tooth fixed it. Thanks again!

Petza914

Great news!