Lately my Max has been idling a little rough and I figured it's time for new plugs and wires so I get it all done earlier today along with a much needed oil change. But somehow I ****ed up and I broke my car. Won't even start now. If it does it runs rough, stutters and dies pretty quick. I did new:

Plugs,
Wires,
Distributor Cap
Rotor
Oil change

What could I have ****ed up?

I checked the firing order like 5 times all good per manual for VG30E engine (135 left to right firewall side, 246 radiator side left to right) and I even marked the plugs with tape on the manifold before I started AND took pics with my phone.

Took a couple plugs out and checked the gap. All good.

Made sure the plugs connectors were secure.

Put the old distributor cap and rotor on there just in case I got a faulty part. No different.

Only thing I haven't done is try going back to the old wires.

I even put a couple more gallons of gas in just in case it was a fuel problem from being up on the jack or some unlikely crap. I had a 1/4 tank in to start anyway.


WTF?

 

What brand of wires did you put in?

 

"Master Pro Ignition"

Shouldn't matter though cause I just put the old plugs back on to troubleshoot. Nada.

 

Well that throws out my solution. See about plugging up a scanner to your car

 

so it runs worse after you did all this? yea you definatly have to put the right plugs, wires, and distributor cap other wise itll run like $h!t.

 

I hope you put in NGK plugs and not Bosh!

 

sounds like a misfire.... trace back your steps. I suggest you start w/ putting back your old cap and rotor. Could be a defective part somewhere. There is practically no way you can mess up firing order. The cap is marked to tell u where to go. Just remember bank 1 is ALWAYS on the firewall side in these cars. Do a spark check. A defective wire or plug can do this too. Happened to me w/ my VG car. Had a defective NGK wire

 

Check coil yet?

 

Hopefully you lined up the notches on the distributor before putting it back in, also the rotor cap will need to be adjusted to get it right (use a timing light for this). Recheck all electrical connectors, vacuum lines and please tell me you had the battery disconnected whilst doing the work.

 

The distributor rotor only goes on one way and once the retaining screw is in there's zero play so I don't see how I could have put it on incorrectly. Same with the cap. As well I made sure to not move the distributor rotorshaft which is pretty near impossible to do anyway. How could I have put the rotor on wrong? I don't see how it's possible. I backtracked and put all the old parts on except forthe cap and rotor and she cranked and ran for a few minutes and conked out. The engine turns over fine and will occasionally catch and then conk out again pretty quick.

 

Haven't seen you around here in a long time dude!

 

Was your Max throwing any trouble codes prior to this? if so did you clear them? id think its a wire problem. at least thats where id start

 

I put my distributor o. Wrong twice whilst doing timing chain etc. Rotor button and splines need to match up to TDC provided that's where your motor is sitting. Then the rotor cap needs to be adjusted using the main bolt that secures it in the slide section down the bottom. You need a timing light to get it right but by feel should get it running if that's the cause.

 

Any updates?

 

throw a timing light on it just to rule out weird timing. when we did my engine swap at Goon's place, the disty went in a tooth off and it ran like azz. actually this is a video of that