S10 4.3L Firing Dis-Order

Stand in front of the truck. The cylinder bank on the drivers side is 1/3/5 Pass. side is 2/4/6

Looking down on the distributor cap you will have two screws. On engines with adjustable timing the screws will set close to a 45 degree angle compared to the crankshaft direction. The front screw will be toward the drivers side.

With the distributor in correctly the front hole is #1, then 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

Like the first drawing here:

Good chance to buy a Haines or Chilton book. I've never seen wiring diagram from below the vehicle.

My experience with reversed wires, the engine does not run well at all. I had a four cylinder Ford Ranger that had two reversed when I got it. I could really tell some thing was wrong.

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It happens that OldGuy formulated :

I finally found a diagram that matches my wiring.

Most diagrams I found were off by a one plug rotation of the distributor cap. That threw me off. Most diagrams do not include all the key orientation information.

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Then your distributor is installed two teeth out of correct location.

Doesn't matter on the 88 as that computer is very dumb compared to the later ones. As long as #1 is on compression and the wire lines up with the rotor tip you're OK.

Other than just looking at the distrib cap, how else could I tell if it is rotated?

I just had a CA smog test that passed and the smog mechanic said that the timing was dead on.

The only thing the smog tech said that might be negative was that the exhaust smelled a little gassy at idle. At the designated RPMs for the smog test it was well within limits.

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You would need to pull #1 plug. Bring it up on compression and see where the rotor is in relation to the "factory location". It won't really matter though on that engine. It actually doesn't matter much on any distributer equipped engine (with a round cap design)where the plug wires start as long as the firing order is correct and you make sure it is firing on the proper stroke.

On the newer engines that have a cam sensor in the distributor you have to pay closer attention. If those are installed wrong you cannot rotate the dist. to correct the problem.