How do you figure out the sequence of plug wires to distributor?

[Mighty Thor]

I was working on the starter of my pick up and selonoid went kaput on me. It made my engine sputter all over the place. I accidently pulled all the wires from the distributor when I pulled my arm out. I was trying to avoid injuries.

How do I figure out the sequence of these wires?

fyi-I didn't post in the General because it's not F-body related.

Thanks

[Dojo2000]

This'll get moved to 'Other Rides'

What kind of truck is it? Your best bet is to just go pick up a Haynes manual for it. If that's not worth it to you, just look at the manual in the store, or ask one of the guys behind the counter.

[black98V6]

if you have an autozone nearby they can just look it up for you, it's in the computer

[AZ3.8Camaro]

If all else fails.
Pull the cap off the distributor. Pull the spark plug from cylinder number 1, put your finger over the hole, and bar the motor over until you feel pressure.
Then stick the end of an ink pen in there until the piston hits it. That is TDC of #1.
Where the rotor points to on the cap is where the plug wire to cylinder #1 should go.
Note which way the rotor turns while you are barring the motor over. That is the direction you will go when putting the rest of the plug wires on. Put them all on in the firing order for the vehicle.

[MTMike]

If the dist. isn't marked with which post is for cyl 1, then you'll have to re-time it from TDC #1 Compression.

First thing you gotta do is hand-crank the engine w/ a torque wrench or breaker bar until the #1 cyl is at TDC of the compression stroke (not the exhaust stroke). Then you pull the distributor cap and find the post that the rotor is pointing closest to. Run the wire from that post to Cyl 1.

Then, you use google or a repair manual to dertimine the firing order for the particular engine. Once you have that, you go around the distributor in clockwise (or counter -depending on which engine you have) and follow the firing order. So if your order is:
1-8-4-6-5-3-7-2 you would route the next wire clockwise from #1 on the dist to cyl #8, then the next to cyl 4, then to 6, and so on.

Once you have them in place, test fire the engine... if it wont start, and it spits & pops thru the carb & exhaust, you timed it for TDC on the Exhaust stroke and you have to start all over (or pull the distributor and turn it 180 degrees). If it' starts, you then fine tune it w/ a timing light and turning the distributor slightly.

Good luck!

Mike

[ November 18, 2005, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: MTMike ]

[3.4 slow to go]

^^^^ that's 50% correct, as I did that when I set the distributor on teh 3.4 when I got it running. Turned out it ws 180* off. So if it runs like crap/rough, pullit out & rotate 180%