M20 not starting after timing belt replacement

[MickoE30]

Back again with another plea for help!

I will try and keep this brief:

Car bought as a Project (1986 320i Auto) after selling previous cars ('85 320i & '90 318is) 10 years ago.

Previous owner stated it ran, but very badly - hasn't been on the road since 2011

As it was bought as a project, and it was a 3 door, 135k miles, very original, solid and the right price, I wasn't overly concerned about the engine.

I replaced oil, checked everything over, set value clearances and replaced a number of Vacuum pipes, fitted battery and it jumped to life on first turn of key.

Unfortunately it sounded like a diesel

I looked on web and this is exactly what it sounded like:



Convinced that the timing was out, I read up on timing belt replacement and after sourcing all required parts, took front of engine apart.

When I set the camshaft to the timing mark and removed lower cover, I noticed that the crankshaft timing mark was about 20mm away (anti-clockwise / behind) from the timing notch.

I had a look online and found this, which seemed pretty much exactly what my problem was:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showth ... ming+marks

I made sure cam mark was spot on, removed belt and then turned crank slightly clockwise to line up with the notch.

I then put everting back together, battery charged, new fuel, crossed fingers, turned it over and now it wont fire at all.

I have checked for spark and its sparking well & plugs smell of fuel

Can anyone shed any light on what I have done wrong, or what I could try next?

As this is a 1986 320i the distributor is on the block, not on the cam cover - would moving this help any?

Thanks

Michael

[MickoE30]

Just read that over again - is it possible if I set valve clearances when the timing was off that this would be an issue?

[Speedtouch]

I would be inclined to ensure that when the crankshaft notch is aligned, the relevant piston is at TDC, by using a suitable length of steel rod or similar down the relevant spark plug hole.

It's possible that turning the block-mounted dizzy a few degrees either way may get it to start (it probably needs adjusting anyway, to cope with modern-day fuel).

[MickoE30]

Many thanks for the reply - I will give both of those a go (and recheck valve clearances) this weekend and revert back!

[Brianmoooore]

If you set the valve clearances by using the usual "sum of seven" method - i.e. #2 inlet open, adjust #5 inlet, then, on a single cam engine like the M20, the timing doesn't matter. You can set the valve clearances with the timing belt off, as long as you've parked all the pistons part way down the bores.
With most M20s , the only timing marks to worry about when changing the belt are the ones on the crank and on the cam pulley, but on yours, with the old style distributor, the intermediate pulley has to be considered as well.
The third timing mark you should have lined up is a notch on the distributor, so if this wasn't done, chances are that this is the reason your car won't run.
Turn the crank to 1 and 6 at TDC, check that the valves of 6 are open, (i.e. 1 is about to begin its firing stroke) and rotate the distributor so that the rotor arm is pointing towards the pole in the cap connected to #1 spark plug. This should give you a starting point to adjust the distributor for optimum running.

[MickoE30]

Brian,

Once again, many thanks for this info - I will try that and update.