Joseph Kravetz

I bought the car and the distributor had been removed. I have a distributor to install but need some help. I searched thru the forum and it helped, but I am still not clear. First, which cyl. is no. 1? The front-most? Then this is how I understand it;

1)line up the mark on the flywheel with the opening in the bellhousing.

2) also line up the mark on the timing cover with the crank pulley (seems redundant to me but ...)

3) install distributor so that rotor lines up with mark on distributor.

I hope one of you Audi experts can confirm this for me and tell me which cyl. is no. 1. Thanks!

repeater

As long as all of your timing marks are lined up and your number one piston is at Top Dead Center - any terminal CAN be #1. See, your timing marks line you up for the combustion stroke on #1. As long as these marks are right, any terminal on the distributor cap can serve as #1 - but this still means your have to follow the correct firing order after this. Many caps will have a #1 stamped on them for the terminal that serves as #1 from the factory - but to me, in your situation, it doesn't matter. Make whichever one number one - but make sure all the rest of you marks are right-on. BTDT many times in this case.

4Driver4

Tim,
If your read Joe's post again, part of his precedure is to line up the rotor with the mark on the distributor. The mark will have to be cylinder number one, the front most cylinder in the car. (Agreed that you can use any hole in the dist as number one if you ignore the mark on the dist and just pop it in.)

Joe,
It sounds like you have a handle on what needs to happen. When you set the dist into the head, made sure you position it so that the wires and vacuume lines attach without stretching.

repeater

Yeah, I thought he was asking which cylinder was #1 on the cap - didn't realize he was referring to the block. But nontheless, what I said about making any terminal on the distributor #1 is true - but, of course, you have to have the right cylinder as #1. This was always especially confusing on Fords - who (especially of their V8's, like to number their cylinders, well, oddly) Thanks for correcting - the info was correct - answering his question was not ;-)
TIM

Joseph Kravetz

I lined up all the marks, installed the distributor, and I get spark. Now it still won't start. Won't even pretend to start. I hear the fuel pump run when I turn the key on, and fuel squirts out of the fuel line fittings (on the fuel-distributor block) if I loosen it, but the plugs don't have gas on them even after extended periods of cranking. No blown fuses. It has good compression too. I think I need to learn a lot about that damn Audi/VW fuel injection system real quick. Any ideas?

PS Thank you for the help with installing the distributor. And I'm glad Tim understood why I had to ask which cylinder is # 1. I didn't want to sound stupid asking that question, but you can't assume anything there, as Tim has seen with those Ford V-8's.