engine running backwards?

Firing order on block says 1-3-4-2

engine has run for years wired with cyl #1 on the flywheel end

I wired it the "correct way with #1 cyl on the fan end... nothing. Turned the dist 180 degrees... nothing. Put everything back to the "backward" way, engine runs great. What is the deal with it?????

1. Pull the plugs and pop off the dist. cap.

2. Put a thumb or finger over # 1 hole and hand turn the engine until you get air pressure. Turn it a bit and insert a straw or something that won't damage the engine when you get to the top of the stroke.

3.When you have #1 at TDC more or less, crawl underneath and see where the timing mark is. Line the fly-wheel mark with the indicator you will see there.

4. The rotor will now be at or near where it will fire next. Plug in #1 wire on the cap at that spot and the rest of the wires accordingly and re-install the cap.

5. Loosen the dist. and advance the timing a dab and then with #1 plug wire positioned where a spark will jump to ground someplace on the tractor, slowly turn it back until a spark jumps.

6. Lock down the dist. at that point.

Works every time. If it were actually running backward you would have 4 reverses and 1 forward gear. Gary

Because on a 4 stroke/4 cylinder engine the firing sequence is identical from either end, no matter how you "label" the cylinders. No matter how you "label" that cap.

Bear with me, hope I can do this. :>)

"I wired it the "correct way with #1 cyl on the fan end. Nothing."

Now you've got the wires and plugs on the wrong cycle; valves are hanging open when you're trying to fire the cylinder.

"Turned the dist 180 degrees. Nothing."

Now, in addition to the wiring and plugs being wrong, you've also got the rotor and cap on the wrong cycle as well. You've finished the job; you've got 'er completely and totally 180 degrees out of time because those valves are still hanging open at that particular instant in rotation.

So you say, let's start all over. Let's bring that "fan" cylinder up on the compression stroke and time it from scratch; working from the inside towards the outside.

Hmmmm okay, away we go. Well lookie here, at the end of the day we are right back where we started.

And, the darned cylinders still seem to be "labeled" wrong. :>)

Allan

There's nothing magical about it; a four-cylinder engine with a 1-3-4-2 firing order will run fine if you time the distributor with the front cylinder as #1, or if you time the distributor with the back cylinder as #1.

Simply rewiring the plugs to their "proper" order and/or rotating the cap 180 degrees won't help. The cap only goes around once for every two rotations of the engine, so everything is divided in half at the distributor. The front piston is 180 degrees away from the rear piston on the crankshaft, so you only need to turn the distributor 90 degrees to get it timed properly.

But, since it runs fine now, I would leave it and just make a mark on the cap where #1 is for future reference.

Guess I can't help ya there.