4g61t.org

Hello all, I bought an 89 Colt that 'needed' a new ecu. I finally tracked an ECU down, plugged it in and still have a no start situation. So back to the Combustion triangle...AIR FUEL SPARK.

I have Air, I have fuel in each cylinder and I have spark at each plug. My next step is timing. This is where I am stumped. The previous owner said he replaced the distributor cap, plugs, wires. I think he messed up setting up the distributor correctly.

My problem is that the dist cap has no markings for cylinder 1. I also am not sure how to align the distributor assembly correctly. I wish I had a manual to walk me though it. So far I have put the motor to TDC, put the distributor in, set up my 1, 3, 4, 2 order on the cap wherever the rotor lined up to (the rotor sits in the 7 o clock position in this case).

The first time it didn't fire up at all. Realizing that I might have caught the TDC on the end exhaust cycle, i rotated the cap. Voila it fired up, roughly and it sounds like on 3 cylinders.

Sorry for the novel, but I am still thinking it is out of time, i can adjust the cap retarding and advancing and can't get it to run right. I have to give it a little throttle to even run, but can not get it to rev up. Feels like it is running on 2-3 cylinders... I have rotated my 1-4 and 2-3 wires on the cap and still can't get it fire on all 4.

I am assuming the firing order is 1 3 4 2 and the rotor & engine rotates clockwise..

So can anyone point me in the right direction?? Send me a diagram of how their wires are ran etc?

www.lilevo.com/mirage/

Shop manuals are located there.

You are on the right track. Wonder if you flooded the plugs or likewise happened for the PO of the car.
Possible if the distributor was removed that it off one tooth or more but why would it be removed?
Keep checking small things.

There is a small mark on the rotor, I installed it facing up, I am not sure if that is right though.