The timing on my new distributor is so far advanced that the mark barely hits the strike plate with the cap rotated all the way and the car dies when put in gear. When I move the rotor back one tooth and rotate the cap in the other direction, the timing mark falls off the other end of the timing plate (the bottom or "after" end of the plate) and the car stalls at idle.

I'm still new to cars and think I might be skipping two teeth instead of one, but I've tried it a half dozen times and it's either one or the other: too avanced or too retarded.

I'm also getting frustrated.

There is a second timing adjustment slot on the bottom of the distributor housing, try moving it one way or the other to get you closer to where you need to be.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

why did you change the distributor? If you are still have a hard time timing I might check you timing chain as a last effort. May be you cam timing is off

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225+0.080 at 10:1
268cam
holley 390
clifford headers
8 3/4 355's lsd
kh brakes
electronic ing

I was replacing the points on my old distributor and when I pulled it out I noticed a couple of broken teeth on the bottom gear. I couldn't find the individual part so I just replaced the whole thing.

There are two adjustment points on a distributor?

The adjustment plate rotates on the bottom of the distributor.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

Man, thanks for being patient with newbies. I really am mechanically inclined, I'd just pulled the dist. so many times to move a tooth either direction that I never thought to look underneath to see how the plate was attached to it. What a dumb move on my part.

Anyway, it is now timed correctly.

Next up, my distributor cap doesn't seem to fit perfectly. Unless I press down on it to hold it in place, the 1 and 5 spark plugs don't fire. Is there an easy remedy for this?

As a side, I finally ordered the Petersen book and the "Automechanics Fundamentals." Don't waste your time on me if these books will have the answers I need.

If your distributor cap doesn't fit correctly, either it's the wrong cap or it's installed the wrong way round. Note there's a notch in the cap which fits over a locating tab that's part of the vacuum advance.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I have sometimes had problems with the cap not going down due to the rotor not being full seated in the distributor. pull the rotor out and check the alignment notch on the underside. If it is a little off on size and doesn't push all the way on to the shaft, you'll have all kinds of trouble.

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

What kind of distributor cap do you have? Is it one of those cheap NAPA/Autozone caps? They don't fit that well, some are ground off center (ask Dan) and I had one on my Duster that would not fully seat onto the distributor.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

From my experience, even the top of the line Borg Warner rotors have the locating boss cast too wide, and will cause the problem you describe if you don't shave the plastic boss inside down to make sure the rotor fully seats.

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Used to own:
'82 Dodge D150
Erson 270 Cam, O/S valves, mild port work, ~9.5:1 compression

Currently fighting with an '85 VW Cabriolet

My other passion