Bought an 85 GSL to fix up that was sitting for three months. It is very hard to start when cold and runs a bit rough. I looked at the plug wires and found that the leading wires are going to the trailing plugs. I switched them to where I thought they should be. Then I tried to adjust the timing with a timing light and found the leading timing matches with the trailing mark, and the trailing matches with the leading mark. So I went out and got a new cap and rotor and got the same result. I switched the leading wires back to trailing and vice versa. So looking at the motor L1 on cap to top left, L2 on top right, T1 on bottom left, T2 on bottom right. I took the timing and everything was fine. Should I keep them this way and go by the indication of the timing light, or match up the letters and forget about the timing marks?

 

Sorry to reply to my own thread. To simplify, The timing with the light is what it should read when it is hooked up like this.

On Cap / On Motor
L1 Top left (T1)
L2 Top right (T2)
T1 Bottom left (L1)
T2 Bottom right (L2)


If I put it the way it is supposed to be, The timing is off and can not be adjusted properly.

Is there any way the rotor is on wrong?

Anyway I changed the fuel filter, wires and cap/rotor and with some fresh gas it is running much better.

 

Ok, it sounds like you kow where the wires go, but I just wanna make sure. Leading is the lower set, trailing is the top set. 1 is the front, and 2 is the rear.

It could be that the coil wires are on the distributor wrong I suppose. The coil closest to the radiator/front of the car should be the trailing coil, and the other the leading. Also, it is possible that the dizzy is in the engine wrong too I guess. Those are just my suggestions. First off, match the wires from the distributor to where they are supposed to go on the spark plugs. That should be your first step. After that, you need to figure out why it doesnt work the right way. Obviously there is something else wrong. My best suggestion would be to check that the coil wires are on the dizzy right.

~T.J.

 

Thanks for the diagram. When I had it hooked up properly, the timing was off. When I switched trailing to leading, the timing is perfect. I am lost.

 

It's simple. The coil you think should be the leading coil is obviously connected to the trailing ignitor and vice versa.

 

So I should switch the coil wires, then put the plug wires where they are supposed to be?

 

You guys kill me

 

Is it possible this engine was only designed to run backwards?










Kidding, just kidding - but I once knew a fella that worked on marine diesel engines that would run backwards.

I can't answer your question. Just swap it all back the way you think it should be and see if it runs good. If not, put it back the way it is.

 

heres what happened to me.....

the actual bolts the hold on the timing pulley were (not suprisingly) missing. it was still held on by that center pin i guess you'd call it, tho. this didnt effect the actual timing... but what it did was change the markings on the timing pulley so if i would have tried to adjust it, it would have been off. i dont know if that could be the problem, but i thought id try to help, anyway.

--eric

 

The coil wires were reversed. I switched the coil wires, then put the plug wires back to where they are supposed to be. The timing was good. Thanks for the advice.

 

No problem man. See you in The Alamo...