Rotor arm

[Moulty]

Wonder if anyone can help me?
My mate came round with his car a couple of weeks ago, when he went to leave it wouldn't start. It "turns over" but won't start. We tried towing it too and letting the clutch out with it in gear, again with no luck.
Today we took off the distributor cap, and noticed that the rotor arm isn't turning. The metal rod that turns the rotor arm isn't turning either.. any idea what could be wrong.

Its a 1.4 1996 Clio.

all help greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[MicKPM]

The E7J is cam driven so if you're 100% sure the timing belt hasn't gone it sounds like the distributor is buggered. Remove it from the cylinder head and confirm/deny the 'drive' keyway is intact

 

[Moulty]

Thanks for the quick reply. Is there any quick way of telling if the timing belt has gone? I'm not 100% sure if the belt is gone or not. But the car drove to my house fine, and was switched off..then wouldn't start again

 

[Moulty]

Just removed the distributor itself, it seems alright. spins freely and the drive keyway seems to be intact.

 

[MicKPM]

Thanks for the quick reply. Is there any quick way of telling if the timing belt has gone? I'm not 100% sure if the belt is gone or not. But the car drove to my house fine, and was switched off..then wouldn't start again

Right, we need to confirm the timing belt is still intact and operational but I suspect its not if the dizzy drive isn't spinning.

Remove the oil filler cap and get a friend to turn the engine over... can you see the cam rotating?
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Another thing to check; is there a spark? Trying to rule out a crank position sensor and ignition pack failure.

Mick

 

[Moulty]

Will have a look inside the engine from the oil filler part tomorrow.

There is a spark at plug no.3 (as this is the one the rotor arm has stopped at) but at none of the others.

 

[MicKPM]

So, just to clarify, when you turn the distributors "Drive" the rotor arm spindle turns with it? I think its safe to assume the spark on 3 but nothing else is because the distributor isn't cranking to make contact with 1, 2 or 4 but I just want to be clear in my mind that the distributor isn't buggered.

An easier way to check the timing belt would be to just look at the keyway on the camshaft where the distributor is bolted to and see if that spins when you crank the engine... the Dizzy is off already anyway so less effort.

Mick

 

[Moulty]

That keyway on the camshaft doesn't spin. I looked in the engine from the oil filler cap and nothing appears to be moving when attempting to start the car.

If this means the timing belt has snapped.. will there be any damage seeing as the car was running fine, was parked.. then simply wouldn't start again?

Thanks alot for your help!

 

[MicKPM]

Boo - that indeed sucks! Next step is to strip the timing covers away to see what's occured.

Are you a competant DIYer able to do this job with the aid of a Haynes "book of lies" manual or do you need help? I'm nowhere near Aberdeen i'm afraid but I know a very good man in Glasgow that would sort it? If the timing belt or the tensioner/idler/water pump has failed then chances are you're going to have bent valves. Saying that though the 8v E7J's are hard mutha hubberds so if it were me, i'd whack a new belt kit on (And water pump) then compression test it before removing the head... i've seen them survive this kind of failure before.

Mick