scott.arthur.mathews

Hi. My name is Scott and I am a newbie to Yotatech and Old Toyota pickups. I am having some serious problems with the timing on my truck. Please help!!!
Here is the story:
I bought an 89 pick up; 22R, 4-cylinder, carburetor, with 190,000 miles. It ran a bit rough (lack of power, and I can hear it skipping or missing at idle), so I put in new plugs, new plug wires, new distributor cap, and new rotor. It still ran a bit rough. Next I replaced the "pick-up" coil in the distributor. Now it barely runs!! I put a timing light on it (old Sears timing light, attached to the #1 plug wire), and pulled the two vacuum lines off the distributor and plugged them. When I point the timing light at the pulley, the mark appear WAY to the right of 0-degrees: as though my timing is set 10 or 15 degrees PAST TDC. I have the distributor turned as far counter-clockwise as it will go, but the timing mark never gets near 0-degrees. I took the pick-up coil back out, just to be sure it was put in correctly, and that it was the same as the old one. Everything looks fine to me. What have I done wrong? I suppose I will put the old pick-up coil back in tomorrow, in the hopes that the truck will be drivable, but I am very confused. Anybody got any good ideas?
Much thanks,
-Scott

scott.arthur.mathews

So, this morning I pulled the new distributor pick-up coil and put the old one back in. I didn't check the air gap accurately...just made sure it was in the ballpark. I didn't change the timing or rotate the distributor...left it where it was, as far counter-clockwise as it will go. It started right up and ran as good as before, maybe better!! I drove it about a mile down the road and she DIED! It will sometimes start and run rough for a minute or two before stalling, but mostly she just cranks and coughs. Anybody got any ideas? I need all the help I can get!
Thanks,
-Scott

scott.arthur.mathews

As I suspected, I shattered my distributor rotor. When I put the new pickup coil in, I had trouble getting the dust cover to seat. The dust cover came loose while I was driving and shattered the rotor. Now I have the old rotor and old pickup coil in the distributor. The truck runs!! That's good, but it's still missing from time to time and running a little rough. The problem is that the air gap is way too big: it's about 0.020-0.022". The Haynes manual says it should be 0.008-0.016". The timing light now shows about 8* BTDC with the vacuum hoses removed, and about 12* BTDC with the hose attached to the distributor. I can get the timing mark to 0*, where the manual says it should be, but the truck barely runs and tends to stall. Please help! At least I can drive to work tomorrow.