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MG MGA - timing sprocket off by 1 tooth maybe

I've just reinstalled the crankshaft and camshaft sprockets on my 1600 engine after replacing an oil thrower. The only reason I removed them was to see if I could line up the timing dots per Haynes manual but after reading the MG Gurus website found that Haynes is incorrectthe timing dots were lined up correctly. The problem I have now is that the car is running rough. It starts ok and idles ok but stutters on reving the engine. I thought I had lined up the dots opposite each other but perhaps I was off by one tooth. Is there any other way to check the alignment of the sprockets apart from removing the timing cover again.

Thanks Andy
Andy Preston

Andy, check the valve timing direct. Set the #1 cylinder intake tappet to .060 and it should open at the TDC mark. Only have to remove the valve cover to do this.
Art Pearse

Art, many thanks for your advice, it really works. I set #1 intake tappet to 60 thou and at the TDC mark the tappet was zero indicating that the valve was about to open. That's such a great way to check that the sprockets are aligned correctly and I've never heard about it before. So they were correct and the problem turned out to be an intermittant short on the low tension wire iside the DM2 dizzy. The wire was original and the sheath had worn away in parts causing an intermittant short and thus no spark.

Thanks again,

Andy

Andy Preston

This thread was discussed between 26/07/2009 and 28/07/2009

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.