Timing issues and spark knocking

[Bob250]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. I recently replaced the timing chain, gears, guides and tensioners on my engine. The whole reason I did this was because I was driving one day and my engine started losing power and spark knocking really bad up hill. So I turned around went home changed plugs and the little bit of driving I did afterward the truck seemed fine. Then I was driving it about a week later and was a good ways from home and the same thing happened again. So I stopped and retarded the timing a little. Just trying to adjust it enough so I could get home. It wouldn't hardly take off so about every five feet I adjusted the timing again and again till it was all the way retarded before I could drive it home. So I came to the assumption after pulling the valve cover and inspecting things that the timing chain looked to be looser than it should so I was going to blame the tensioner. When I replaced everything the new tensioner spring was about 1/2 longer than the old one. I went to time it with a light today. Engine fully up to temp with the vacuum line off the advance. To get the timing marks to line up it had to be fully retarded again. So I'm kinda stumped. Any advice, help, or direction would greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[pennyman1]

check the advance in the distributor - sounds like it is stuck full advanced. or the distributor is off 1 to 2 teeth advanced.

[Bob250]

I check the advance and it moves freely, and when I rev the engine up a little with the timing light in it the mark advances as it should. I double checked the distributor gear and at tdc on compression stroke it's pointing at #1. I bought a new cap and rotor button today and think I discovered my problem. Pulled a wire off the old cap and went to put it on the new one and the 90 degree bend In the boot doesn't reach the terminal in the cap by about 1/8 inch. So my guess is the spark has been too hot since I changed those wires and because of this then advance is trying to retard itself to compensate. Stupid mistake on my part.

[pennyman1]

that will do it - bet that cap is fried on that terminal

[Bob250]

It didn't look all that bad surprisingly, a little bit of corrosion on each one of the terminals. you would think it would've melted the thing. I'm just hoping the pickup coil isn't damaged. I'm gunna get the correct wires tomorrow and cross my fingers that it's cured. I put that new rotor button on today and the new cap seems to be teetering on it when the center rod in the dist cap touches it. Is that normal or do I need to exchange the cap? Maybe that center rod is too long?

[royster]

Not familiar with the G54B, I am only offering what I know of the 2.4 I have, and that is: there is a significant rubber gasket that fits between the cap and the distributor. I also had to really push the rotor down to get it to seat: it's a tight fit.

For my distributor, those rubber gaskets are impossible to find.

[Bob250]

I definately don't have one for mine, I checked the new cap with the old rotor button and it was the same. The old cap didn't have this problem probably because it was broke in. I'm gunna try it the way it is and see what happens. I got new plugs and wires today so fingers crossed still.

[Fordubishi]

this my sound stupid but do you have the correct plugs in it? I have had a few cars/trucks that had a knock under load and even after I did all the timing and replaced the fuel filter they still did it. Replaced the plugs and knock went away. Could be the wrong heat range.

[Bob250]

I just got new plugs with wires yesterday, NGK's V-power one bump above standard. I watched the guy look it up in Advance Auto to make sure they were the right ones. The new plug wires, cap and button didn't fix the problem. When i went to start it i had to advance the timing, It wouldnt stay running where i had it when it was retarded all the way. After running for a few mins, i cracked the throttle and to knock idle down, it wouldnt stay running unless i retarded it again and its where its supposed to be with the light too. It's still pinging when i try and drive it. I think im gunna test out the coil and see what i come up with. I pulled one of the plug wires off with it running knowing i was gunna get shocked and put a plug in it and grounded it out. It was an orange spark in the middle and blue on the ends where it was touching metal. About a half a min of getting shocked because i dont have patience to go get someone to help me ha ha.

[Bob250]

Well I checked the coil, never did it before so I'm hopin it's right. I got 1.5 OHMS on the primary and the book says it's supposed to be 1.2 OHMS. And I got 30,000 OHMS on the secondary. Book says it's supposed to be 27,000 OHMS. I talked to a few people and they said that being off by that much shouldn't cause this problem. I put the coil back in and started the truck up and I had forgotten to hook up two electrical plugs and one was my EGR valve so I plugged it in and the truck ran worse so I unplugged it again and the idle came back up and the engine smoothed out. Ran and drove better but still with considerable pinging. Pulled the EGR off and cleaned it and hooked it back up but still runs like crap. Any ideas?