Troubleshooting a miss, etc

[Steve Wood]

if you set it per instructions and it backfired, either it is 180 out, or the ring on the balancer has slipped....I am guessing that

[ULYCYC]

X2 or the crank sensor is damaged.

[TurboCajun]

had my wife with me today with a hose in the spark plug hole and her finger on it to find TDC, it has a lil puff on one strock and a big long puff on the next,  which would be TDC compression stroke. when i had the balancer off today i tried to moce the ring and could not but that doesnt mean that it didnt turn before.

[TurboCajun]

i am remembering now that when i had the balancer off , one of the slots was even with the timing mark.

[Steve Wood]

If it were me, I would use a piston stop and find tdc to see if it coincides with the mark on the balancer, or is in a different place

[Steve Wood]

maybe someone has a balancer they can look at....?

[TurboCajun]

we did check the piston, it was right on mark and tdc

[Steve Wood]

Did you check the crank sensor for proper alignment on all three blades as Ed has been asking?

Did you pull the cover off to replace the seal?  If you did, did you check to make sure the cam gear mark is lined up properly with the cam gear mark?

How many pounds of compression do you see when you do a compression test on a cylinder?

Your crank sensor install look like this  http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/cranksensor.htm  ?

[TurboCajun]

yes i checked the blade, it looked like one had rubbed a lil so i readjusted. No i didnt pull the cover to replace the seal, that was the only good part of my day, not having to pull it. last time i checked all cylinders were at 135- 140.

[TurboCajun]

Steve did you look at the numbers from the ecm test, the ones that are off to me are A10,B10,D5 and some of the low number didnt match, ex. B3 diagram shows it @  .14, my number is .008, D10 diagram shows .07, i am at .007. some of the others that i am off are the a/c, egr, wastegate, but i dont have these hooked up

[Steve Wood]

I don't know about the voltages...I have always found some variation from the list on them so unless completely wrong, I tend to ignore the smaller ones.

Might check the compression on number one again since it is easy...

Being that John's cap did not work when you followed his instructions.. .gets us back to being 180 out, being off due to a ring slip, or a badly stretched chain/off a tooth on the cam.  That is how I see it at the moment.

Have you tried cranking the engine up, and with the cam sensor connected, tried rotating the cam sensor housing a little in both directions to see if it runs better?  If it backfires, you obviously went too far.

turn it a bit, then unplug the sensor and see if it runs better, no change, or gets worse.

If that does not work, pull it up, and reinstall with the slot pointing directly opposite of where you currently have it.

[ULYCYC]

The voltages can vary due the the state of charge condition of your battery, ambient temps and voodoo. Only if it's way out of spec, then be concerned. What about the ohm test on the harness connectors @ the ecm?
You also said the crank sensor showed signs of hitting. I would replace it
After this I would  spin the cam sensor 180 deg as Steve said. It sure sounds like a 180 out problem.

[TurboCajun]

only had time to test the connectors at ECM. my digital meter was not showing ohms it would just show 0.0, so i used a different meter that showed continuity but i could not say how much because it was adjustible.  A6 to A2- had continuity, A6 to A3 -did not, A6 to A4- did not, A6 to A7 did have, A6 to C1 did not because there is not a wire in C1 nor C2, C3 to C4 did have, C5 to C6 did have , for A3 I dont have canister, for A4 I dont have EGR.
I did purchase a new crank sensor today but didnt have time to install it.

[TurboCajun]

trying to find a used balancer

[Steve Wood]

In the mean time, try rotating the sensor...crank it up, rotate it a bit, unplug the sensor and see if it runs better or worse than before...if it backfires, do it in the opposite direction.  If it gets better, or stays the same, replug it, and turn it a bit more and unplug again.  See if you can find a spot where it runs well when unplugged.

If it never gets better in either direction.  Suck it up, forget that you know you have it installed properly and rotate the window 180 degs and see what happens after installling it in that mode.