i gotta stop trusting people to help me get projects done, my truck is at my buddies house a couple miles away from my apartment and he keeps flaking out on me. i've been without a vehicle for a week now and i'm sure if i woulda done it at a different friends house that i know for a fact is reliable it would have been done 5 days ago...

 

its all in and it turns over, sounds like it wants to start but back fires through the intake every once in a while.

 

Timing off?

 

thats what its lookin like, unfortunately my timing light isnt so accurate anymore for some reason. not it'll start and run fine till i put it in gear and then it'll stall. it heated up pretty fast too, seemed a little too fast

 

It may not be your timing light. Did you unplug the water temp sensor? After warmup, unplug the temp sender and recheck the timing. Are you using 10* BTDC? I'm assuming that your settings would be like a 91.

Also, don't play with the idle screw. There's a process to that as well.

 

we turned the distributor as much as possible, its only able to turn a few degrees either way. and i plugged the wires in to the distributor according to the firing order/hayes manual. did put the rotor where it was supposed to be, agreeing with the timing mark on the crank pulley, i'm honestly running out of patience and time. i have to have this done by friday morning to work in brighton michigan for the weekend, and i live in lima ohio btw. i'll try unplugging the engine temp sensor tonight after class

 

is there air or fuel being blown out the throttle body when you try cranking it? it could be so easy to get the distributor shaft in 180* off.

 

yeah, i tried tellin my buddy its 180 but he doesnt wanna listen. i'm turnin it around when i get to his house. i cant begin to express how much i appreciate your help, never once did anyone help me on the bmw forums when i had a bimmer

 

i am guessing most of those people with the bmw's must pay someone else to fix there vehicles for them.

for the little amount of time it takes to take that distributor out and rotate the distributor shaft i would at least try it. the worst thing that happens is the truck won't start.

 

appaerntly they did, no one knew how to rebuild a diff, do a five speed swap or re-write the ecu on a 90's 3 series...i figured it out though haha, i'm not just some jackass. i kinda know what im doin but i havent ever dealt with a distributor, i did turn it 180 and it didnt do anything. it refuses to start with the other disributor but will start up and run with the old one