Rough Idle and fixes

[Skidd]

First, a little background information for you guys, then on to the "meat" of the problem

Long story short, my engine overheated severely, blew the head-gasket, and filled the cylinders up with antifreeze. after a lengthy process, here I am.

I had the head resurfaced for my f22a6, and got the engine back together enough to run, but right now I have a bit of a rough idle. I need to do some fixes so things will run right, so I can finish getting the coolant bled. Hopefully this becomes a bit of a how to or something of that sort. I'll hopefully have pics so you can follow along!

Well, with the rough idle, I needed to diagnose if I have a dead cylinder, which shouldn't be the case, given all of the work I've done to the head. I pulled out plug wires with the engine running, and almost no change for each individual plug. Which leads me to my next fix, the distributor, after I pulled the CEL code, which was 9, 15, and 43. ( So I might have a bad O2 sensor thrown into the mix, but not sure, it could be a vacuum leak.)Anyways! 9 is the #1 cyl sensor, and 15 is the ignition output signal.

I've got an extra dizzy sitting around out of my old 'a1, so I figure I can re-use some of those parts from that one to make a bit of a "franken-dizzy" considering how similar the design of the system is. F22A1 Dizzy: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...1011154539.jpg
F22A6 Dizzy: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...1011154605.jpg The part in the background there is the old A1's Sparker thingie... (ARGH why do you fail me now, brain?)

WEll, unless I do some fancy rewiring, I'n not sure this idea will quite work... unless you guys think I may be able to: http://imageshack.us/a/img24/8498/20121011162243.jpg Left one is the wiring for the A6, right one is the A1. notice the pigtail on the right, and lack of one on the left?
This means that I have to put an extra wire in there for the ignitor to work right, unless I can remove the green wire entirely, and leave the pigtail on there.

The next thing I need to try is a valve adjustment. considering that I had the whole cam and valve system out of the car, a valve adjustment couldn't hurt, and may fix that rough idle. (I"ll insert more of the fix process here as I open things up, and find a feeler gauge or two to use, just for future reference)

As I go along, I"ll post more pics of the work, but I wanted a bit of the "public" opinion on how things are progressing, but I have 1 question. If I got the cam shaft one tooth off of the timing belt, would that cause a rough idle?

[RyanD]

Yes! it would to answer your cam shaft question.

no on to your dead cylinder. to see which cylinder is not firing (my way) is to take off that cover plate to expose your headers and do a cold cyl check. run the engine for about 5 min then shut it off and spray each pipe with water. which ever evap the slowest is the dead cyl

[Skidd]

well, I meant with the dead cylinder, I pulled each plug, and there was no change in the idle, no matter which one i did, so I don't have a dead cyl, as far as I know, what is happening is that each one fires, its just all chuggy, you know? maybe a misfire, or late valve open, perhaps.

on a related note, I can move the cam one tooth over, but how to i know which way to go?

[RyanD]

well, I meant with the dead cylinder, I pulled each plug, and there was no change in the idle, no matter which one i did, so I don't have a dead cyl, as far as I know, what is happening is that each one fires, its just all chuggy, you know? maybe a misfire, or late valve open, perhaps.

on a related note, I can move the cam one tooth over, but how to i know which way to go?

that unfortunately is a question i cannot answer as i have never tone timing work. i always take my cb to the shop for anything timing belt related

[Skidd]

I really wish i had... but it would have been $500 for the fix earlier this year, which i didn't/don't have...

EDIT: so as not to double post, I've decided that its not worth it to make the whole franken-dizzy, its just too much work to not even guarantee a good outcome, and I don't want to destroy my good distro, just so i can test something. If I had a 2nd A6 one lying around, then I guess I would think about it. But, sadly i don't.

[93redcb7]

just look at your flywheel mark and your cam marks, or you can take off the crank pulley and lower cover

[Skidd]

just look at your flywheel mark and your cam marks, or you can take off the crank pulley and lower cover

Yikes, No thanks, once was enough. That crank bolt was, well.... I'll just say "Fun" to take off the first time, I'd rather not have to go down that road again. But thanks for the tip with the markings.

Well, my dad and I have pretty much figured out that its my timing belt being one tooth off. I'll post a vid of how it runs now, and maybe a bit of a "how I fixed this" after I get it running right. Hopefully, I can turn this into a good "unexpected idle issues that don't have to do with the icav valve" thread or something.