1998 5.7 liter can not Time
 

Does anyone have any idea's that could help me? I pulled distibuter without marking it when I changed intake gaskets. I reinstalled
distributor with TDC & rotor pointing at the little 8 . No luck -- I do have 2 lines on my balance -- one is a manufactured groove and the other is a white chalk line. The white chalk line seems closest to TDC. I also have 2 white marks on bottom of distributor near rotor. One of the marks is next to the 8 on the flat spot of distributor and the other white mark is right of camshaft sensor plug. I have tried moving my distributer back and forth all over one gear at a time and I can not get it to fire. I read that the bottom of my distributer at the gear there is a half drilled hole that is supposed to line up with a white mark near that end of distributor shaft. But I do not have a white mark on there. I bought new cap and rotor -- I then had my wife turn the motor over with the ignition and I hear a spark sound. Come to find
out that the new cap was arking before I even set it on top of rotor. I reinstalled old cap and tried the same thing ( cap off and turned motor over using ignition - this time no spark so I am using the old cap for now) Hopefully someone has an idea for me -- I am thinking
about checking compression on all cylinders next? Could I have jumped a timing chain link? I hope not.

RE: 1998 5.7 liter can not Time
 

Welcome to the forum!!! I always hate taking out the distributor for this very reason. I would just keep playing with it. Someone here should be able to help, just hang in there.

RE: 1998 5.7 liter can not Time
 

Update on my problem's -- First " Thanks Northey for the encouragement " What I did !! I checked my compression on all cylinders (cold) and they were between 160 & 175 -- I think that is ok book says 150psi 20dp -- I then cleaned all plugs and installed checking all my wires -- Then I set TDC -- I used Manuf. groove this time and set rotor at the 8 a little ahead ( I know I did that before ) Walla presto it
STARTED!!!! Now I need to figure out how to make it run a little better -- purrrrs good at 1000 but higher and lower it is not. I hooked my computer to it and found 3 codes 102 , 122 , and camshaft positioner I forget #. I reset codes and 102&122 came back . Are they on because my timing is still off or are they the problem. what should my #1 piston timing be ? I think the computer said 20. Should I just run my truck a little while and it will clear itself out or should I adjust time one more gear? Not sure witch direction to go.
(102= Low input --- Mass air Flow) (122= Low input --- Throttle position sensor)

RE: 1998 5.7 liter can not Time
 

Update to anyone that wants to read my sorrows. LOL --- I still have not been driving my truck --- I started troubleshooting it again today and found the mass air flow sensor code had gone away. "Hopefully it don't come back" I still have TPS code -- so I started checking voltages and sensor is getting 5 volts but nothing coming back. I tore it apart and cleaned -- was wet an dirty inside of TPS sensor (which I see is just a potentialometer of some sort) but something is not working inside of it. (It does work good to ground) but not to the computer. I checked napaonline and found them from 30 to 50 dollars. I read in the book and it says that the TPS sensor if broke can give an unstable idle so I hope that is the problem now. I have the camshaft postion sensor come back into alarm code again. Is this sensor going bad or is my timing still not right? Will it go away when I install a new TPS?

RE: 1998 5.7 liter can not Time
 

FINALLY I have never had a problem with my truck that took me a week to fix lol -- I changed out the Throttle postion sensor and that was the problem -- The mass air flow sensor code was on because I had the damn thing unhooked before. and then I advanced my timing one gear and my cam postion sensor code went away --- yah I am done -- Does Anyone now What the #1 cylinder timing advance should be ? My computer says it is around 20 at idle then it goes up to 28 degrees while i am driving -- But my haynes manual does not go in depth that far. --- Signin Out ---

RE: 1998 5.7 liter can not Time
 

Only way to set the timing on these is with a scanner. Must be+/- 2 deg.
Have to loosen dist hold down, set scanner toscan the CMPRET...rev to 1000rpm each time the dizzy is adjusted until you get the correct reading(above)...then tighten clamp.