Mercruiser 888 Timing - No Start

[Dave_A]

Ok...

Setup is an 888/302 with a HEI distributor off E-bay...

Firing order was messed up when I got the boat, I am trying to fix it...

Problem?

It appears that the timing marks are no longer present on the balancer pulley, and I have no way in hell of locating #1 TDC with the engine assembled....

I have tried the 'stick a finger in the plug hole' method on #2, then counted back through the firing order to #1 (no access to #1), but this doesn't get me close enough...

This does, however, confirm that all 4 cycles are occurring properly, so it's not a timing-chain issue....

Since the finger-in-hole method does the same thing as pulling the head and looking at the valves (tells you when you are on 'compression' for that cyl, I'm somewhat lost as to options...

The boat won't start...

Any tips?

Any other 'reference point' for timing?

Should I just keep guessing, and fiddle with the dis until it starts?

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Mercruiser 888 Timing - No Start

If all else fails, you can pull the right valve cover to visually check that the #1 intake and exhaust are both fully closed. Even though that still might not pinpoint the exact tdc position, it would get you close enough to start it if you a) did not have the dizzy in 180 deg off, or b) you had it wired correctly for the 351w firing order.

Doing this would also show if you are a tooth or more off on your dizzy insertion.

 

[Dave_A]

Re: Mercruiser 888 Timing - No Start

Ok...

I'm assuming that if the distributor is 'off', then aligning the #1 terminal just 'after' the rotor (eg, as if it had just fired the plug, since the engine is supposed to fire at 10 before TDC), while #1 is at TDC will make it 'right...

 

[Surfdancer]

Re: Mercruiser 888 Timing - No Start

Take a stiff wire brush to the harmonic balancer and your marks may appear.

WizeOne is spot on with the valve cover removal method. If you can't find the marks when you wire brush the balancer, follow his method. The intake will be start to open on one of the TDC's and closed on the other.

You need the stock cam Mercruiser 888 firing order? 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8 is what the Mercruiser manual shows, with rotor rotation counterclockwise as viewed from above.