1985 6000 le wont start

[mikey 88]

I have a 1985 pontiac 6000 le 2.8. it will not start. i just did a tune up on it. plugs,wires,cap, and rotor. it ran before i started the tune up not it does not. fireing order is buy the book, haynes and chiltoins, i has spark and fuel every thing seems to be there for this car to start, but it will not fire up, please help.

[LordDurock]

check for crossed wires and stuff

[85_Ciera_Rebuild]

1985 pontiac 6000 le 2.8...plugs,wires,cap, and rotor.

Pull a spark plug out, ground it out with wire on it, crank motor, is there spark?

[mikey 88]

i tried that and i have spark

[SCREECH]

I have a 1985 pontiac 6000 le 2.8. it will not start. i just did a tune up on it. plugs,wires,cap, and rotor. it ran before i started the tune up now it does not...

Ok, so you said you've confirmed the firing order, which is one of the first things you should do, so that's good. Now, since you're dealing with a distributor-equipped engine rather than one with DIS (distributorless ignition system) there's another opportunity for human error: is it possible you put the distributor rotor on backwards, 180-degrees from where the old one came off? If so, then the ignition will be trying to fire every cyilnder on the exhaust stroke, and that'll just never work.

If that's not the solution, what does the engine sound like when you're cranking it? Does it sound like it's even trying to fire up, or is it just "dead cranking", never trying to catch, to actually start up, at all? Is there any backfiring?

[SCREECH]

One other thing to make sure of is that you started the firing order on the distributor at the correct location, at the same location where it was before. To clarify, make sure that plug wire #1 is on the same terminal as the previous plug wire #1 was. If you're off by one terminal for every cyilnder, that's like advancing or retarding the timing 60-degrees. Again, the engine will not run this way.

Please don't be offended if these suggestions seem obvious and you've already checked or verified them. I just want to make sure we've got the basics covered before this becomes a more "challenging" problem.

[LordDurock]

okay try this take the cap off. and the wires. and rotate the motor around tell you get the timeing mark lined up. then were ever the rotorar is place the frist wire in the oder and then finsh the odder going clock wise.

[turbokinetic]

AFAIK all the 60° V6 engines fire 1-2-3-4-5-6. When the car came from the factory, the #1 plug wire was on the distributor cap terminal at the 10 o'clock position. Now that the car is many years old, someone may have taken the distributor out and re-installed it with the rotor shaft in a different position. That means the #1 wire (and the other 5 also) could be on any given cap terminal, but will always go in the order 1-2-3-4-5-6 moving clockwise.

To determine your #1 distributor terminal, you will need to find top dead center on cylinder #1 on compression stroke.

Take out the #1 spark plug and use a ratchet and socket on the crank pulley bolt to turn the engine manually. Have an assistant turn the engine while you plug the sparkplug hole with your finger. When you feel compression pressure building up, continue turning the engine until the timing pointer points near 0°.

This is near the position where the #1 cylinder is ready for spark. Look at the distributor base and determine which cap terminal the rotor contact is pointing closest to. This will be your #1. Start the firing order from this terminal, clockwise 1-2-3-4-5-6.

The engine should start.

Is this a carb or EFI motor?