Possible rotary arm/timing problem

[stu646]

Right, my car has been struggling to pull away sometimes in 1st , 2nd and 3rd gear.

So today I went to buy a new rotary arm, plugs and distributor cap. To see if this helped.

When I got to the old rotary arm, ( I have never done this before ) I could not for the life of me pull it off. So I decided to undo these bolts ;



After this the rotary arm was able to move 360 degrees. And with the pic above you can see there is a gap now to.

I have been told I may of messed up my timing? Any help? Have I messed things up and need to call a local mechanic or is it easy to do myself still?
Baring in mind my sh!t effort so far.

[Wayne]

Yep you have messed up your timing, might be better to get a local mechanic to check and reset as required.

[stu646]

Is it a big job for him? As the one I have used in the past charged by the hour at £65!

[Bellend]

Fairly expensive rates round here, 30 quid average.


Lesson learned though, can't see full pic but I always just use a hacksaw to make a very neat line in it. Stick a screwdriver in it and its lined up.

[spear]

somre rotor arms are bonded on and you have to smash the f*ck out of them to get them off.

did mine last week, tricky to do without messing up alignment etc.

[stu646]

All done now. The mobile mechanic had to smash it off in the end. For reason it had been super glued on.

While doing my spark plugs though, after taking out my 3rd one, lots of oil spurted out, so need to fix that, but only costing me £75 for him to come back to do it.

Also one other question. He said he could do a engine flush for £10. But I have heard that sometimes doing a engine flush on a old car, although in the short term you get better performance, sometimes as it has been all flushed out, you may get some problems with the engine that have been hid away with all the gunk.

So would it be worth doing one?

[shanco73]

If your rotor arm is stuck on smash it off like the mechanic did, it may seem to have welded itself on there.

I would be slightly concerned about oil spurting out when a spark plug is removed ?? what was the reason he gave for this ?

Flushing an engine whilst changing the oil is good practice, it gets rid of all the old deposits this is why people say it can be bad for an old engine because those old deposits may be hiding an oil leak, if it was my engine I would want to know about any hidden problems it may have.
Engine flush is about £6 and is worth every penny.