No start after timing belt change, is this the right timing mark? (V cut on crank)

[detroit 4]

Hey everyone,

I did the waterpump, gasket, tensioner and timing belt, I also cleaned the air slide valve on my '86 320i E30. It's a jetronic system, has its distributor on the side of the engine, not the front. Now the car won't start - video included in the post of what it's doing. I'm 99% sure I did everything correctly, I was very careful. But I wanted to make sure of a few things.

I cannot find a definitive answer as to whether or not the mark on the crank (v cut and line, in the picture below) is in fact the timing mark I should be using. I was following both a written guide and a video, the video mentioned the v-cut mark, but for an 325e eta engine, I did have the v-cut and line and it was much clearer than the marks on the crank pulley, they were there but I had already decided to do it using the crank itself as it was much clearer and I didn't have to take the pulley on and off to make sure I was in time. With that being said, I didn't have the 325e style cam marks. I had the regular ones with a tooth with a line through it and a line on the head, but I didn't have the e12 socket holding on the cam sprocket, instead a regular bolt (I'll include a photo also, sorry it's not the best photo). So could I get your opinion on this? I also didn't check if the timing mark on the crank and the crank pulley were the same.

Crank marks I'm talking about - this is with the old belt before I changed it or anything

 

This is the cam timing marks - this is with the new belt before I put it all together - sorry for the photo quality.

 

Because I didn't have to take the distributor off could it be misaligned as I tensioned the belt by cranking the engine, CLOCKWISE, twice by hand (and checked it was in time with the original belt) or is the distributor driven by the crank (or something else) so it wouldn't be misaligned?

If I very slightly incorrectly timed the engine, would it still start? I'm pretty confident I got these lines to match correctly. I'm also very confident in the amount of tension on the belt, once I hand-cranked it, the tension was very minimal, then I tightened the tensioner.

Could the small amount of ATF fluid that leaked out when taking the radiator off (it's an automatic) affect the ability to start?

Could there be anything that I'm potentially missing or something?

Lastly, I am getting spark (I haven't checked every plug), but I set the plug on the rocker cover and it was sparking just fine, which I have read means that the CPS is still working?. I smell fuel and the plugs where a little wet (I took them out overnight, put them back in, still no dice) but I haven't taken a fuel line off to check. I also sprayed some ether into the intake (it was difficult to do as it was just me) and it still didn't fire up, it sounds like it's right there but doesn't quite.

Here's the video of me trying to start it:

Thanks for your help.

[detroit 4]

Alright, bit of an update. I got bored and took it all back apart, up to where I can see the timing marks on the crank pulley, and checked the timing was still on, this time using the marks on the crank pulley, and boom it was still in time... I also checked the tension which was also fine...

I really have no idea what is going on.

Timing on cam - these photos are taken without me moving the crank or cam in between (obviously):

 

Timing on crank pulley these photos are taken without me moving the crank or cam in between (obviously):

 

Video showing tension:

Please let me know If I've got something wrong here ahaha, I could be an idiot, this is my first timing job ever.

 

Cheers.

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

Did you mark and time the auxiliary shaft pulley for ignition timing ? If you haven't it's the ignition timing causing the non start.

[detroit 4]

31 minutes ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

Did you mark and time the auxiliary shaft pulley for ignition timing ? If you haven't it's the ignition timing causing the non start.

I don't think I did, nothing I was following even mentioned this.

I'm not coming up with much on Google regarding this either, are you able to point me in the right direction as to what this part is and what I need to do from here on out?

Most of the Google results I get are regarding an intermediate shaft, is this the same thing?

Sorry to be a pain. 

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

It's quite often called the intermediate shaft or incorrectly the balance shaft. Try googling reset distributor timing. It can be done without changing the cam timing which you seem to have reset correctly. I'm very sorry I can't help any more at this time - family 

[detroit 4]

4 minutes ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

It's quite often called the intermediate shaft or incorrectly the balance shaft. Try googling reset distributor timing. It can be done without changing the cam timing which you seem to have reset correctly. I'm very sorry I can't help any more at this time - family 

I appreciate the help, thanks so much.

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

PM'd

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Is the crankshaft 360 degrees out? The crank goes past the timing mark twice in one revolution of the camshaft, so the marks line up twice in one engine cycle.

Did you have to move the crank and or camshaft much from where it was when you took the old belt off to get the marks to line up again, or was it all pretty much all in the same place? 

Unlikely it is the case, but it is possible.

[detroit 4]

6 hours ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

PM'd

Just Pm'd you back, cheers.

 

 

 

1

3 minutes ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

Is the crankshaft 360 degrees out? The crank goes past the timing mark twice in one revolution of the camshaft, so the marks line up twice in one engine cycle.

Did you have to move the crank and or camshaft much from where it was when you took the old belt off to get the marks to line up again, or was it all pretty much all in the same place? 

Unlikely it is the case, but it is possible.

The crankshaft isn't out by 360, I was super careful about the timing matching. If I were to do one crank rotation, the cam would be 180 degrees off it's mark, but two and it's right on.

As for moving stuff without the belt, I don't think I moved the crank at all without a belt, but the cam I did, I wouldn't say I moved it, more so tilted then tilted back, as I was trying to get to the cam seal and I had a screwdriver holding the cam mostly in place. I didn't end up taking the cam sprocket off as it was too tight.

Thanks for the ideas though!

[detroit 4]

Ok so today, I, unfortunately, got interrupted a few times and only got a small number of things done. I spoke to Glenn @B.M.W Ltd and he was extremely patient and helpful, he gave me some important advice on what I needed to do and I've done some of what he said already, so a huge thank you to him for speaking with me so thoroughly, an absolute legend.

Here's where I'm at, I double-checked the #1 wire for resistance using this as a guide:

I did this to make sure the wire labeled #1 was in fact #1 and not messed with by a previous owner, a really great idea courtesy of Glenn. It passed this test, #1 wire was connected to Cylinder #1's spark plug. I tried to do this with continuity, but it didn't work, so I switched to the way it's done in the video above.

 

I then placed the engine at TDC and the Rotor arm faces here and turns clockwise, the tape mark on the side of the distributor is where the #1 Spark plug wire would come from on the cap. ( I ran out of twink but this way you can see it dead on and the mark all in one)

Is this too worn to work? Does the timing look to be about right? I also noticed there was a vacuum line not going to this, I didn't check if it had one going to it other than the one missing, but if it only has one outlet then it's missing its vacuum advance line, is this potentially causing a no start, I didn't remove it so I imagine I bought it (running btw) without this.

(just want to remind you, that I did for spark on cylinder 1 and it's there)

 

I then did this test 

This was to see if my cap was faulty, I left all other wires connected, besides the #1 wire. I got no readings, even if I put one of the probes on the contact point for #1 on the inside and on the outside of #1 where the wire could connect, I got nothing in either test. I'm not versed at all when it comes to caps or rotors so my style of cap might not be susceptible to this test, or the fact that it's still connected to other wires maybe interfering. Either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts if you know anything more about Caps + Rotors.

(just want to remind you, that I did for spark on cylinder 1 and it's there)

 

I then was asked by someone to see if the cam lobe was up in cylinder #1 when at tdc, it's not (at least I think) here's that photo:

Was asked the same but when the rotor arm is towards cylinder #6 and to slightly crank it, here's that video:

 

So yeah, not too much progress today, but I thought I'd keep this updated so that if anyone has similar issues they can see what I did to (hopefully ahaha) fix this.

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thank for the help already too.

Edited August 5, 2019 by detroit

[detroit 4]

FIXED!

 

So it turns out the distributor was definitely out of whack, and needed to be re-adjusted, which is annoying as it's such a simple fix but because l-jetronic e30s aren't well-documented nobody mentions this in any guide. 

Here's where I put it, the tape mark on the side of the distributor is once again the mark where #1 cylinder spark plug wire is.

 

Once again, huge thanks to the people on this forum who helped, especially Glenn from @B.M.W Ltd.