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I started some maintenance work to get my C2 ready for spring. My car is a 96 C2 with 38k miles. One of the things I was replacing were the distributor caps and rotors, I am a novice wrencher but not afraid to give things a try. I can always take it to the indy if I fail. Anyway, since I was in there, I figured I would take a look at the actual distributor motor belt to see if I can see any wear. When I pulled the distributor I failed to mark the location of the rotors, am I in trouble? I used this pelican parts article for instructions which did not go those details. Pcar workshop site was unfortunately down. After it was back up I read the article there and it goes into details of pointing the rotors and TDC position 1.Or does that only apply to the older cars?
If its recommended to replace the belt, does anyone have any recommendations who could do this job with fairly fast turnaround? This job I prefer to outsource. I live in Louisville KY.
Anyway, here are few pictures.
I took one picture you can see one of the rotors, so if I need to point them that way, I might be good. Thoughts?
Next items on the list
Fuel filter
Power steering flush
Brake Flush
Hydraulic clutch flush
Spark plugs
Lower Valve cover gaskets, not sure if top are leaking, lower for sure.
Timing chain cover is leaking ( not looking forward to that one, might just try tighten bolts and wait on that one)
I usually just mark the position of the rotor independant of the crank position, and as long as the engine is not turned over, just put it back in that position. Finding TDC is not required and a waste of time.
If you have not marked the position on the distributor though then you will need to find TDC for piston one. What I would do if put the crank into one of the TDC positions (the crank pulley is marked so match the mark to the mark at the bottom of the fan housing), pull the lower spark plug on piston one, and use a leak down gauge to see if the piston holds pressure - it will only do that if its truly TDC on piston #1. If not, rotate the crankshaft 360 degrees until the mark is match again, and it should be truly TDC on the compression stroke for piston #1. Now you can put the distributor back in, ensuring the position of the rotor once the distributor is seated is pointed to #1. If you cannot do it this way, you can do it other ways, such as checking the rocker positions if the cam cover on bank 1 is off, or line up using the TDC mark and see if the car runs ...
BTW, pcarworkshop.com appears to be up, what did you see?
I usually just mark the position of the rotor independant of the crank position, and as long as the engine is not turned over, just put it back in that position. Finding TDC is not required and a waste of time.
Mike I had the fan assembly and alternator removed so the engine won't turn over. I have not touched the crank pulley. Base on my last photo can I not just place the distributor back and make sure the rotors point into the same position as before I removed the motor ? BTW what is TDC stand for? Like I said I am a novice wrencher. Just a little worried I missed a big step.
Mike I had the fan assembly and alternator removed so the engine won't turn over. I have not touched the crank pulley. Base on my last photo can I not just place the distributor back and make sure the rotors point into the same position as before I removed the motor ? BTW what is TDC stand for? Like I said I am a novice wrencher. Just a little worried I missed a big step.
If the motor has not been rotated, yes you can just put the distributor back in and have the rotors point to the same position as removed. The gear is a bit coarse so if you are one notch out, it should be obvious because the rotor will not be pointing to the correct position. The rotor will move as the distributor is seated, so you will need to anticipate that. If you make a mistake, pull out the distributor and try again. Do NOT force the distributor into the engine, remember you are meshing gets together when the distributor is being pushed in, so sometimes you may need to rotate the main a tiny bit to have the gears engage nicely.
What I would do is the installation above then check if the position is correct before starting the car.
If you look at the distributor cap, you can locate the post for piston #1. Do that by tracing the spark plug wire from plug #1 - left hand side of the car, the closest spark plug to the rear of the car. When the distributor rotor is pointing to that post (which you can approximate by eyeballing the post alignment with the body of the distributor) that means that #1 piston should be at "top dead center" or TDC. This is when the #1 piston is at the top of its travel in the compression cycle, and if the spark plug sparks, the compressed fuel mixture will ignite and push the piston down. Rotate the crankshaft clockwise (usually done with all the belts on and rotating the alternator shaft clockwise via the big retaining nut, which through the belts rotates the engine) until the rotor points to this post.
If you have rotated the engine so the distributor rotor points to the #1 post on the distributor post, you should also see a mark on the crankshaft pulley align with a mark on the bottom of the fan shroud. If they are aligned (or very close, you can perfectly align then with some slight rotation), you will be at TDC.
So, if your rotor is pointing to what is the post for #1 piston (determined by that fact that the spark plug wire for #1 piston is plugged into that post), and the main marks on the crankshaft pulley are aligned with the mark on the shroud, you should be good to go.
I would post some picts but I am away right now so do not have access to my photos.
BTW, you can, if confident skip my checking cycle and just try to start the engine. It will be pretty obvious if the timing is off when you start it.
I would definitely change the belt and possibly bearings. I sent mine out to Steve Weiner last year and had him rebuild the distributors. Although only 60k miles, the belt and the bearings were deteriorated. At almost 20 yrs, it's a good bet they need tending to. So glad I did mine because failure can be costly.
As others noted, putting back in an indexing is pretty straight forward.
I would definitely change the belt and possibly bearings. I sent mine out to Steve Weiner last year and had him rebuild the distributors. Although only 60k miles, the belt and the bearings were deteriorated. At almost 20 yrs, it's a good bet they need tending to. So glad I did mine because failure can be costly.
As others noted, putting back in an indexing is pretty straight forward.
It's been a while since I had my distributor rebuilt; but, at that time bearings were non-existent or extremely scarce in the world. Guys like Steve Weiner "may" have a small stash of bearings, but I'm not certain. Unfortunately, Porsche did not use a standard sized bearing. And, you may not need them. They rarely go bad.
+1 on changing out the belt. These belts don't wear out. The belt material deteriorates from the effects of ozone. So, a belt can look fine, but may be becoming brittle. And, they will simply then break. If you elect to replace the belt yourself, be aware that the two distributor heads need to be aligned exactly as they were when taken apart. There are instructions on how to do this in the literature.
What I would do is the installation above then check if the position is correct before starting the car.
Thanks Mike. I am going to get the distributor belt replaced and cross that bridge then. I might reach out to you if that is ok if I have additional questions. BTW can I do any damage not having the distributor rotors not pointing the right direction, or will the car just not start?
Steve Weiner "may" have a small stash of bearings, but I'm not certain.
Ernie, thanks for the suggestion. do you know how I can get a hold of Steve Weiner? do you have his RL user name so I can PM him?
I would definitely change the belt and possibly bearings. I sent mine out to Steve Weiner last year and had him rebuild the distributors. Although only 60k miles, the belt and the bearings were deteriorated. At almost 20 yrs, it's a good bet they need tending to. So glad I did mine because failure can be costly.
As others noted, putting back in an indexing is pretty straight forward.
Thinking about doing the same. Roughly what does Steve charge for this and what was the turnaround time?
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Should I replace distributor belt or not?
