MrSmith

I have a 1986 MAXIMA (Her name is Maxine), anyway. I cant get her to start. She turns over like new but wont start. I had an engine diagnosis done and they said I need to replace the sensor in my distrubutor. I bought another distrubutor and tried to install it. In the prosses I believe I put it out of Time. I cant seem to get the timing set correctly. My book tells me to feel for compression. please tell me, How do I feel for compression

GundamWZero

Compression is when the piston gets tight inside the engine as you rotate it. I am having the same problem too. If you have a DIY manual, it also shows where the alignment marks to set your timing.

MaxWgn

iTrader: (1)

Get a Chilton or Haynes manual on the cheap for the specifics on setting to TDC on cyl 1. You could have eye'd it a little, when installing the new one, if you had made some reference marks on the engine, referring to the location of the ECU harness, and then another mark for the the rotor. Then, once you had it installed, perform the standard timing procedure. Since you've already pulled the old distrib. out, you normally need compression gauge (since our plugs sit too far down to test by feel at the plug boss), and disconnect the coil wire, unplug the fuel pump fuse, and trun it over in short bursts from the key, while watching the compression gauge. When you get it close to it's maximum compression, plus or minus a bit, stop, and use a breaker bar with the appropriate size socket, and turn the engine by hand, the correct direction. If you get it close enough, you're OK, it doesn't have to be 100% exact. Then install your new distrib. If the car refuses to start, remove the distrib, and rotate the rotor 180 degrees, and reinstall. Then, adjust your timing as needed.

I hope this helps.

MrSmith

Thanks it sounds simple, Ill have to get a compression gauge, I never used one of those. I have a Haynes manual already. Are the Gauges hard to understand? And thanks in advance

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

Fairly simple. You want to test the compression on all cylinders. There should be something in the Haynes manual that outlines what the compression should general be at, and how much difference there is between all of them.

S