Well, as some of you know, my summer/fall was pretty much occupied with wedding/honeymoon planning which has left our trucks neglected. Now as things settle down, I'm trying to get back into things, but my skills are a bit rusty.

Where I last left our '89 Trooper RS was in the middle of a head gasket swap. I managed to locate all the dismantled parts and get the head back together, but now I'm having some problems getting it running and could sure use some advice.

Whats happening is, as soon as I start it, it acts like its going to run, but then just about the time I let go of the key, it fades and dies. There is no violent shaking or backfiring, it initially sounds smooth, but then just fades away.

I've been thinking its a timing issue and have spent the better part of today pulling the dizzy, rechecking all my marks and trying again. but so far, i've been unable to find my mistake (and I must have reset the configuration at least 5 times today).

So, heres the details... both the camshaft and crankshaft marks lined up at their indicators (see pict). this should indicate TDC compression on #4. So I inserted the dizzy with the marks at the end of the shaft lined up... which points the rotor at #4 (roughly horizontal, pointing back at the firewall).



I've checked and doubled the dizzy so many times now, I'm more or less confident I'm not missing a tooth there. As for my base timing, the marks line up and I've spun it several times over, so I don't think i'm off there either. What gives? if I rotate the dizzy counter-clockwise as far as it goes, it seems to idle just a hair longer, but still won't run on its own.

I'm still thinking timing issue but not seeing where my mistake is. any help would be great.

Thanks
-Rob