Finding Cyl 1 TDC with no distributor?

Hey everybody. Truck is a 1997 Ram 2500 5.9 V8. The engine thats going in is either a 1995 or 1996, just another 5.9 V8 that I rebuilt.

When the rebuilt engine was out of the truck, both screws holding the dist. Cap snapped off. And then i broke off a drill bit in one of them. No matter, I removed it and stole the one off my 97 engine.

I installed the rebuilt engine in the truck and i installed the front timing cover, water pump, and harmonic balancer. I did this so I could use the marks on the balancer to find Cyl 1 TDC. However, theres 4 different marks on the balancer. 3 of those marks are cut about halfway through, and one is cut all the way through.

Which one is cyl 1 TDC? Also, all the rocker arms and pushrods are out so i cant watch the valves and feel the compression with my finger over the plug hole.

Thoughts? Advice? How do?

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pretty sure the bigger mark is tdc #1. But most of my experience is pre hall effect dist. If you don't have a degree wheel and a super long reach dial indicator (I do(because I was a machinist), most people don't ), that's ok, you can use a "positive-stop" tool. You can buy them, they're really not expensive, or if you're good with your hands you can make one out of an old spark plug. Anyway , it's safest if you can figure out with your finger in the #1 spark plug hole, generally where tdc is. The reason I suggest this is because you are going to hand crank the engine until the piston GENTLY bumps the piston stop in normal rotation, then temporarily mark the dampener, then remove piston stop, continue rotating a little further, reinstall piston stop, reverse direction of rotation and again GENTLY bump the stop, mark, temporarily, the dampener. True tdc should be half way between the temporary marks. A word of caution, if you hit the piston stop too hard, you could bend or break the stop, which may complicate your life. It is a little easier and safer, when hand cranking the engine over, to remove all the spark plugs, maybe even squirt a little 2-cycle down the spark plug holes.

Rustycowl69 said:

pretty sure the bigger mark is tdc #1. But most of my experience is pre hall effect dist. If you don't have a degree wheel and a super long reach dial indicator (I do(because I was a machinist), most people don't ), that's ok, you can use a "positive-stop" tool. You can buy them, they're really not expensive, or if you're good with your hands you can make one out of an old spark plug. Anyway , it's safest if you can figure out with your finger in the #1 spark plug hole, generally where tdc is. The reason I suggest this is because you are going to hand crank the engine until the piston GENTLY bumps the piston stop in normal rotation, then temporarily mark the dampener, then remove piston stop, continue rotating a little further, reinstall piston stop, reverse direction of rotation and again GENTLY bump the stop, mark, temporarily, the dampener. True tdc should be half way between the temporary marks. A word of caution, if you hit the piston stop too hard, you could bend or break the stop, which may complicate your life. It is a little easier and safer, when hand cranking the engine over, to remove all the spark plugs, maybe even squirt a little 2-cycle down the spark plug holes.

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I see, that method makes sense to me. But how do I know where the cam is when #1 is at TDC? I don't want to put it at TDC on the intake/exhaust stroke or anything and f up the installation of the rocker arms.

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ok, re-read post. I see you can't read compression with your finger in spark plug hole. My suggestion is to install pushrods and rockers, and then do as I suggested previously.

Rustycowl69 said:

ok, re-read post. I see you can't read compression with your finger in spark plug hole. My suggestion is to install pushrods and rockers, and then do as I suggested previously.

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I ended up doing just that, and found that that large mark is indeed cyl 1 TDC. Now hear this out everybody, heres the next strange problem im encountering.

When I replaced the Tchain and sprockets on this engine, I found that the cam was off by 180 degrees. Rather than have the crank sprocket dot at its highest point and the cam sprocket dot at its lowest point, the crank dot was at its highest point and the cam sprocket dot was at its highest point. Both of which were perfectly in line with each other, its just that the cam was off by 180.

Im also unsure if this engine ran before I got it. supposedly it did, but it turns out the guy who sold it to me is a liar for reasons unrelated.

Anyway, I thought that was kind of strange, rotated the cam 180 degrees and timed it properly (meaning cam sprocket dot at its lowest, crank dot at its highest, both in line with each other).

Now, that im going to install the new distributor, I find that the exhaust valve is opening right before cyl 1 is supposed to fire. The intake valve opens after its supposed to have fired.

I came to the conclusion that the distributor needed to be rotated 180 degrees from the position it came out in. Unfortunately you can't do that, the hold down clamp doesn't go on unless the dist is in stock position (meaning cyl 1 mark almost pointing at oil pressure sensor).

I'm confused, did I time it wrong? What's the deal here?

#1 terminal should be at like 7:30 when viewed from the front of the vehicle. According to my 01 service manual, you timed the cam/crank gears properly. As long as nobody has moved the intermediate (quill) shaft, and the dampener mark is lined up with the TDC mark on the timing cover, AND YOU ARE ON THE TOP OF THE COMPRESSION STROKE, then you should be able to rotate the rotor on the distributor to the correct area of the dist body and just drop the dist into place.

If everything goes together, before you fill everything with fluids, I strongly suggest you spin it over, with #1 plug removed, finger in the hole, dist cap off and make sure rotor is pointing correct when timing marks are lined up, and HUGE compressed air is trying to escape #1. The reason I say Huge amount of air is the compression stroke, both valves closed. The exhaust stroke will push some air out, too, but it will be less because the exhaust valve is open.

Rustycowl69 said:

If everything goes together, before you fill everything with fluids, I strongly suggest you spin it over, with #1 plug removed, finger in the hole, dist cap off and make sure rotor is pointing correct when timing marks are lined up, and HUGE compressed air is trying to escape #1. The reason I say Huge amount of air is the compression stroke, both valves closed. The exhaust stroke will push some air out, too, but it will be less because the exhaust valve is open.

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Found my problem regarding the distributor being 180 off.

I got the timing mark lined up on Cyl 1 TDC Compression stroke, and the rotor was pointed 180 degrees off from the cyl 1 mark with the dist in the stock position (meaning cyl 1 mark around 7:30), And then it hit me.

I just pulled the distributor up, rotated the rotor/dist shaft 180 degrees, and it pointed dead at the cyl 1 mark. Slipped back together like nothing. Not sure why I couldn't think of that yesterday, but I think ill be ready to turn the key by the end of the day if I bust my ass. I sure hope, I have to go to work tomorrow.

Thanks rustycowl!

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