General finding tdc on piston 1

[devalin]

Hi, i stripped my ducato engine down to replace the gasket and get the head skimmed, i got everything back together and running right,but had a leak through the oil seal from the camshaft, iv'e now spent the last 3 nights,taking it to bits, replacing the oil seal putting it back together. the engine jammed, so i took the camshaft out ,managed to turn the engine by the bottom crankshaft , put the camshaft back in and it wasn't jamming anymore, but although the timing marks are in the right place and the diesel pumps set right, when i strike the engine up there's a knocking noise from the top and its not running as smooth as before,infact its sounds like an old tank!! any suggestions as to what else i can do???:worship:

 

[lightweightmick]

Hi Devalin,
Is there not a Timing mark on your engine visible through an inspection hole on the flywheel housing? There is on mine - but mine is old school...
general rule of thumb is to set crank to TDC then leave it
You haven't got the timing out on the crank by 180 degs have you? as the crank turns twice to the camshaft's once. However whether it would actually run 180 degs out or not I couldn't say
...but it sounds like it was okay until the oil seal was replaced.
Did you turn crank through 2 revolutions when setting up - as diesels are forgiving and will run even if a tooth or two out... I can confirm this as mine was found to be one tooth out when I fitted a new timing belt (and it was last done by a garage at that at over £400!)
Check/find no1 TDC by lining up marks when no1 piston is on compression stroke (remove cover: both inlet and exhaust valves will be closed and both cams will be pointing away from followers) If you find otherwise then timing is out and rotating crank will bring all into line.
hope this is of help
lwm