Rotor positions--please confirm

Ever since replacing the cap, rotors and ignition wires on my '87 Mondial, it's run very poorly. One concern I've had is that one of the rotors was mis-installed. Just to confirm, it appears to me that they should both be pointing in the same direction relative to the ground plane, as indicated in the attached diagram. Rotor directions noted in red.

Can someone please confirm this is correct?

The car runs equally well (or poorly) with on either bank of cylinders with the other disconnected, which leads me to think this is not the problem (unless their both off the same amount, which I hope is unlikely, and I think it would barely run if at all if that were the case.

Any response is appreciated--thanks.

Peter
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Okay--thanks for all the thoughts...

First, while I wasn't sure that the rotors couldn't be installed incorrectly, that seems true--I overlayed a photo of the Marelli rotor with 120 degree angles and aradius; makes me think I put it on correctly;I did take notes of position while doing it.

I'm pretty sure the wires are on correctly--the ones on the car had cylinder numbers on them, as well as numbers on the caps. Plus I checked it all again.

The wires are Magnecor. I have checked resistance and they are consistent in Ohms per length. My only concern was the amount of silicone I sprayed into them while slipping the red silicon covers on, but I am told that is not a problem. Plugs and extenders are recent as well, although from before the running problem, so probably not part of it. No sparks at night.

Poor running is a general hesitation, as well as a lack of pull over 3,000 rpm, plus a miss at idle. Also, when first started giving gas causes the rpms to drop. Vacuum is about 9"HG at idle. Is that correct? I can't find a vacuum leak, although that seems likely if I dislodged something while doing the work. I attached my MightVac to the ECU, and varying vacuum doesn't seem to affect running--i.e. retard at less than WOT. At the same time, I doubt that the ECU suddenly died, if it's not a wire issue, it should be something I hit while working on the car.

I haven't looked to see the actual rotor position, I'm putting the old caps back on to test them. one is on, and the unburned fuel smell is worse, so it's not looking like the caps are bad. I can't imagine what could be off with a rotor. The new caps and rotors are from T Rutlands.

I still need to check the frequency valve and the rotor position at #1 TDC. Since it ran fine prior to the work, I have to assume it was something I did, unless it was the Fuel Injection shop that gt it to pass the emission test (225 HC at idle down to 210 HC--from barely failing to barely passing) I do wonder if they played with the mixture and it just went south--i.e. screw fell out, etc..

Again, any comments are appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter

 

Billy Bob--

Took some time, but here are the test results. Any thoughts are appreciated.

The only problem, is that I had a significant vacuum leak at the cold start injector that made a loud whistle over the engine noise, but didn't seem to affect the running at all. Maybe it's just the location, but so far I haven't found a leak, and would think that if that oe didn't affect things, other than being annoying, a leak somewhere else wouldn't either, except to the ecu, which I've tested and isn't leaking.

I guess I'm afraid of the propane test, although I might try brake cleaner. Or better, just replacing all the hoses when the 2-year old goes to bed before 11pm.

As noted earlier, the car ran fine until I replaced the caps and rotors. Ignition wires were afterward and didn't change things, plugs and extenders were before. I've cleaned the contacts between the TDC sensor and the wiring harness, as well as those to the ECU.

Note that the before test indicates a single exhaust.

Any brilliant insight here? Anything is better than where I am now. Thanks,

Peter
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Dang that's slow. It didn't get the after...
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Cliff:

Great list of things to follow. Sure enough, the frequency valve isn't doing anything. I checked it with a dwell meter, and it isn't getting a signal at all. Am I correct in assuming this could be because of:

1. Bad protection relay. The 10A fuse looks alright, but I found how to test the relay on a thread, so I'll try that next time I have a few moments free...
2. Loose connection to ECU. I did clean the connections to the ECU, so perhaps it splices somewhere else?
3. General short somewhere along the line?

I allowed the car to warm up fully while testing. Am I correct that the duty cycle would default to a fixed position if the O2 sensor were bad?

Thanks,

Peter

 

Well, sure enough--jiggling the protection relay solved the problem. And it only took 4-months to get that far. Somehow I thought it would be related to the ignition work I did. Of course, now the instrument panel lighting and marker lights don't work.....

Thanks to all for all the help over the various posts on this. I guess 4-months isn't too bad when you consider I have 15-minutes a week to fiddle with the car. Too bad it just started raining. Until Mid-July, 2010.