Hi,

I have a felicia 1996 With a 1.3 Carburator - engine. Some months ago, it screwed up the piston head, the gasket (all a big mess) I've got from a friend of mine another engine (with a good piston head) and Im trying to do 1 from 2.

It's all already assembled. I tried to start it up last weekend; it burns a few times and in some occasions it sounds like it will start up.... but it doesn't.

I Suspect that it could be the ignition timing not correctly set, or an incorrect valve clearance (maybe both)

Can anybody please help me to get a guide or something to do it right? or check is I did on firs place?

Edited 28 June, 201214 yr by MGumbs

I will describe for you the entire procedure for setting ignition timing spot on.

I will assume the rocker arms and distributor covers are taken off.

it is a good idea to take out the spark plugs to rotate easier the crankshaft.

jack the car so the front right wheel is up in the air. engage 5th gear.

1) you need to set cylinder 1 piston to TDC (Top Dead Center). to do this you have to rotate the wheel forward till cylinder 4 valves overlap (exhaust valve finished closing and intake valve didn't open yet)

2) now you need to check several things:

- the notch on the crankshaft pulley is aligned with 0 marking on the timing gear cover (both are barely visible)

in the photo above, took on my car, the marking is aligned to -2 degrees, corresponding to ideal advance at idle.

I put it to see better what to look for. you should use some white paint to see better the pulley notch when setting the correct advance

- the distributor rotor arm points to the notch made on distributor body

if any of those settings is not right, you have the timing chain, camshaft or distributor misaligned

tell us your findings and will get it from there.

Thanks a lot for the information

I'll check step by step this afternoon or tomorrow early morning and then will post the findings ....

Thanks again..

I will describe for you the entire procedure for setting ignition timing spot on.

I will assume the rocker arms and distributor covers are taken off.

it is a good idea to take out the spark plugs to rotate easier the crankshaft.

jack the car so the front right wheel is up in the air. engage 5th gear.

1) you need to set cylinder 1 piston to TDC (Top Dead Center). to do this you have to rotate the wheel forward till cylinder 4 valves overlap (exhaust valve finished closing and intake valve didn't open yet)

2) now you need to check several things:

- the notch on the crankshaft pulley is aligned with 0 marking on the timing gear cover (both are barely visible)

in the photo above, took on my car, the marking is aligned to -2 degrees, corresponding to ideal advance at idle.

I put it to see better what to look for. you should use some white paint to see better the pulley notch when setting the correct advance

- the distributor rotor arm points to the notch made on distributor body

if any of those settings is not right, you have the timing chain, camshaft or distributor misaligned

tell us your findings and will get it from there.

Hi,....

Well this is what I've found:

In this picture is the rocker-arms view. I have rotated the crankshaft pulley several times in order to get sure that I have got the TDC (as you described) The Exhaust vale (cylinder 4) Just Closed and the intake valve did not open yet.......

At this point, I put a screwdriver into the spark-plug holes to check the position of the pistons. The pistons 4 and 2 (in the center) are all the way up, and the pistons 1 and 3 are all the way down.

The scary part is this:

The red arrow in the picture is a screwdriver indicating where the notch on the crankshaft pulley is at this point

Here :

Is the position of the distributor rotor arm, as you can see it has 2 marks in the body, I'm not sure who they got there but, I think some service-man did that marks on some other time. :think:

So, what should be the next step now?

Thanks in advance ...

I will describe for you the entire procedure for setting ignition timing spot on.

I will assume the rocker arms and distributor covers are taken off.

it is a good idea to take out the spark plugs to rotate easier the crankshaft.

jack the car so the front right wheel is up in the air. engage 5th gear.

1) you need to set cylinder 1 piston to TDC (Top Dead Center). to do this you have to rotate the wheel forward till cylinder 4 valves overlap (exhaust valve finished closing and intake valve didn't open yet)

2) now you need to check several things:

- the notch on the crankshaft pulley is aligned with 0 marking on the timing gear cover (both are barely visible)

in the photo above, took on my car, the marking is aligned to -2 degrees, corresponding to ideal advance at idle.

I put it to see better what to look for. you should use some white paint to see better the pulley notch when setting the correct advance

- the distributor rotor arm points to the notch made on distributor body

if any of those settings is not right, you have the timing chain, camshaft or distributor misaligned

tell us your findings and will get it from there.

The pistons 4 and 2 (in the center) are all the way up, and the pistons 1 and 3 are all the way down.

the cylinders in the center are 2 and 3, not 4 and 2.

cylinder 1 is towards crankshaft pulley and cylinder 4 is towards flywheel.

also the first photo is not showing the rockers cover off, but push rods cover.

see photo below to be sure we're on the same page.

it looks like your timing chain is 180 deg. offset.

you have to put it right as follows:

- overlap cylinder 4 valves as indicated (see also my topic at http://www.briskoda....ming-animation/)

now piston 1 should be up, at TDC

- drain engine oil

- take off oil sump (new gasket needed)

- take off crankshaft pulley (mark TDC notch with a thin white line)

- take off timing gears cover (new gasket needed)

- according to Haynes (see photo below) you have to count 12 chain pins between markings, but in my car the marking on camshaft gear was 180 deg. offset. many car owners with an 135 engine found this discrepancy. you can't put the chain as in Haynes due to parallel keys.

moving on...

- install the distributor to match the photo below

now you should be good.

piston 1 at TDC, crankshaft pulley notch at 0 on timing gear cover and distributor rotor pointing to body notch are the 3 reference points for a perfect ignition timing.

good luck!

Edited 2 July, 201214 yr by masster

Hi,

Thanks a looooot

I was really lost on the cylinder count.... :S but in my defense I have to say that I was following the numbers set in the cylinder head (I tough they where there for a good reason), now I know it's just necessary to count from left to right ....

I'll follow this new information and then will let you know the results,

thank a lot again.. seems you are my savior

the cylinders in the center are 2 and 3, not 4 and 2.

cylinder 1 is towards crankshaft pulley and cylinder 4 is towards flywheel.

also the first photo is not showing the rockers cover off, but push rods cover.

see photo below to be sure we're on the same page.

it looks like your timing chain is 180 deg. offset.

you have to put it right as follows:

- overlap cylinder 4 valves as indicated (see also my topic at http://www.briskoda....ming-animation/)

now piston 1 should be up, at TDC

- drain engine oil

- take off oil sump (new gasket needed)

- take off crankshaft pulley (mark TDC notch with a thin white line)

- take off timing gears cover (new gasket needed)

- according to Haynes (see photo below) you have to count 12 chain pins between markings, but in my car the marking on camshaft gear was 180 deg. offset. many car owners with an 135 engine found this discrepancy. you can't put the chain as in Haynes due to parallel keys.

moving on...

- install the distributor to match the photo below

now you should be good.

piston 1 at TDC, crankshaft pulley notch at 0 on timing gear cover and distributor rotor pointing to body notch are the 3 reference points for a perfect ignition timing.

good luck!

here are 2 more photos that could help.

this photo shows how the markings on timing gears look like at installation

this photo shows how the hole for distributor looks like from above with piston 1 at TDC.