Bugout4x4

I absolutely agree with 5-speed on this, I think you may have found your problem. You can bet the whole fuel system is clogged up with all this bad fuel and water and it might not have anything to do with your ignition system at all. The whole system needs to be cleaned out before you go any further on anything else.

PapaBearXJ88

Thanks Bugout, I drain all of the old fuel by running the fuel pump with the hose pulled off of the back side of the fuel filter (I ran it until it started bubbling and spurting, then I waited afew minutes and did it again - didnt want to overheat it and burn it up with so little fuel left in it).

I then replaced the filter and put in 5 gallons of fresh gas with a quarter bottle of HEET water remover (yellow bottle). Once I can get it running I plan to fill up and put a good concentrates fuel injector/fuel system cleaner in the tank with 20 gallons.

Do you think the 5 gallons fresh + HEET will straighten it out enough to start running it, or is there something else before I go back to running/trouble shooting it? I used the HEET instead of the fuel system cleaner now because I need to get every drop of water out that I can.

Bugout4x4

I think it will help greatly! and at least ten gallons would be even better! And I would let it sit and soak for awhile before pumping it through. There is one issue that might arise...this is not going to get rid of any junk that may have already been loaded into the remainder of the fuel system. I hate to say it... But if it were mine I would pull the whole system apart to clean and blow out each part all the way to the intake.

PapaBearXJ88

Thanks for the link Cruiser, I re-indexed again, still idles decent, but will not rev, even if I slowly applied throttle. It always does the same thing - idles pretty good, then sputters and shakes when I apply throttle.

I even cut-out a window on my old cap. It shows that once it was indexed directly on the #1 (center of the rotor), while the oil slot lined up at just past 12 o'clock. I turned the cap another to set the rotor just past the #1 post on the cap just to see if it made any difference - ran the same (I got some bad advice from the shop that rebuild the engine and cut the ears off of the base of the distributor)when I was having trouble getting te timing set) - it ran the same)
Then I lined up what I presume was the next tooth over (with oil slot at just past 11:00), the rotor ended up completely past #1 - there was no in-between.

I tried it little by little, over and over several times, still will not line-up to 4:00, turning to 5:00 and at the end of terminal #1 if the oil slot is at 11:00.

I put the most of the engine back together, but the shop installed the cam, cam bearings, timing gears and timing chain, so I can not say directly that they were installed correctly (though I would expect they would be (experienced shop just not very experienced with Jeeps). Nobody is perfect, soI'm trying to look at everything.

QUESTION: - Is there anything that could have been put in wrong mechanically that could cause this? If the timing chain were off by one tooth, would that cause these type rough running/timing issues?

5-Speed

If you do a compression test, that should tell you if the cam timing is off. I skimmed through the thread real quick so I might have missed it, but have you cleaned out your injectors or made sure that they are all firing? That gas you drained was nasty and there is a good chance it gummed up your injectors too.

cruiser54

You gotta get this right. .020" PAST. Nothing else.

PapaBearXJ88

I have tried time and time again, to set it down at just past #1, same thing every time - it either goes down and lands rotor between #1 and #5, or I move it back a thread and it lands between # 1 and #4.

It will not land at just past #1. Could this be timing gears/chain or cam shaft are out of synch/lined up wrong? I went a bought a compression testing kit to check it tomorrow once i figure out how to do it.

What are your thoughts on this Cruiser? .

cruiser54

You must cut the tabs.

PapaBearXJ88

Prior to the engine rebuild the tabs were in place. I was told by the shop to cut them off, but could not resolve the problem doing so.

What could have changed during the rebuild that would cause it to no longer line-up? Also, I would like to get it back to where it should be, any ideas as to what mechanically could be causing the timing to be off?

Do I need to pull the front of the engine and confirm cam shaft/timing gears were installed correctly?

I tried to turn the distr. (with tabs off) to get it to line-up with around .020" on the last indexing I did, however it still di not let it run right.

Could it BE the cam shaft/ gears?

freegdr

Maybe it just the angle but isnt 0 back here ?

freegdr

I would confirm tdc by piston then see where mark lands on timing marks. Maybe dampner off ?

cruiser54

Yep. If the outer ring moved, that could be the problem.

PapaBearXJ88

When I confirmed by removing #1 plug, having my wife cover plug hole with finger until the pressure pushed her finger off, then used log Phillips head to find high point, then watched until it started going down then split the difference (backed off slightly) between those two points to find TDC. When I did all of this, the harmonic balancer timing groove was even with the 5th mark from the bottom on timing chain cover.

If that is the case that the dampner is off, how do I fix that?
Not sure what you mean by outer ring?

RocketMouse

a big X2 on that one ^^^

RocketMouse

yep.. dont forget those. Pretty easy to pop them off and clean them out. Don't want to do all the other work you've done and forget that small, but critical piece.