Hey everyone. Wife was driving down the highway when she ran out of gas. At the time we didnt know it and I had it towed to the house. I replaced the distributor rotor and cap. Engine is now showing codes for multiple misfires and runs very rough. Ive confirmed proper firing order. Ive been told the timing could be off and i need to find TDC on cylinder 1. I have not removed the distributor. Can i assume the rotor cap is pointing to cylinder 1? I can understand how to remove #1 sparkplug and rotate the engine by hand but how can I be sure rotorcap is pointing to cylinder 1? Ive heard mention of "bumping" the ignition to get the cap pointed to #1. I dont understand this concept. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

sounds like you got the firing order mixed up when switching the cap. The distributor cap should be marked by each terminal which cylinder each wire goes to. They do not go where you would think they would. Timing is determined by the crank sensor and PCM (not the distributor) so you received bad info on your problem being timing. Best wishes for a successful repair.

 

If you never removed the distributor, you shouldn't need to mess with it. My guess is that you crossed two of the wires. IIRC, two of the ones on the passenger side don't go in order (front to back), while the driver side ones all do.

*EDIT*
Les types faster than I do.

 

Tom your efforts are appreciated. Typically we have the same answers!

 

I matched up numbers with eachother based off of this diagram. 1 to 1 so on and so forth. Do I have the wrong diagram? My distributor cap is marked this way as well.

 

Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment.

No, that looks right. I just got the sides mixed up (they say the memory is the first thing to go, lol).

 

This mean my problem lies elsewhere?

 

That's my guess. Do you have a fuel pressure gauge? I wonder if it's possible that the fuel pump was damaged by running dry.

 

I do not. When i press on the service port on back of engine it sprays hard all over the firewall so i had thought my pressure was good. I can always go pick one up and measure it to verify.

 

If you can borrow one from your local parts store, it couldn't hurt to check. It's probably a long shot, though. I'm not sure what else to suggest.