Truck help?

How do you change a distributor on a 1985 Toyota pick up and which cylinder do you hook the timing light to??????Truck help?
Take the distributor cap off so that you can see which direction the rotor button is pointing. Take the old distributor out, should only be one bolt and a couple of plug-in wires, and install the new one with the rotor pointing the same way. Toyota distributors go in fairly easy and the timing should be the same if you put the new one in as described above. You probably won't even need to set the timing, but if you want to check it, the timing light hooks to the front cylinder (#1).Truck help?
yeah
i would pick up an appropriate copy of chiltons. if it is anything like a gm you remove the cap. there is a retainer strap that holds the distributor to the motor. you can remove the bolts with a regular combo wrench but there is a special wrench that is made to remove those bolts. you should pick up this wrench. taking these bolts out is a nuckle buster. if you dont you may just get you mouth washed out with soap. once the reatainer clip is unbolted and removed gently pull the distribuot up. it will turn slightly clockwise. there is no id spline on the base of the distributor. the books say to mark the motor and the dist with something before removing it to ensure proper realignment. once you have the old one out you can replace it making sure that all of the components on the new dist line up correctly into the same position as the old one was. put the retainer clip and bolts back and start the bolts int the holes a few complete turns. do not tighten them down you will need to adjust the distributor.. put the dist cap back on the dist.

this is where i differ from what the books say. with the older vehilcles you have an option to deal with the timing. you have to make sure you do this right or you will f you motor up. if you put the dist back in exactly the same position as before you do not need a timing light. you can adjust by sound. when it sounds right then it is good enough for government work. for the first time doing this you absolutely need someone there that has done it before to help you do it right. if you do not get the timing adjusted right you will bend your push rods. then you will need to strip the motor down to the push rods and replace them. that is an advanced repair, and abosultely not recomended. when i need to use a light i remove no1. on a gm motor it is front left plug (left is drivers sided right is passenger side). i am not too framilliar with a toyota, i dont know the plug firing order. if when you remove the dist the splines on the back of the cam move then you will need to make sure that you use a light. i do not see the cam moving sdince you are not replacing the timing chain, i assume. if you are and the cam moves then make sure ewhen you kave the new chain in place and the harmonic balancer back on that you with your hand, after everything is back together, put your pinkey finger in the spark plug hole for no1 and SLOWLY turn the cam by hand. you will feel the piston go up then back down. the piston will brush up against the end of your finger. dont do it fast. my finger will not bass throught he opening into the chanber. i do not know how big your finger is so for safety sake do it slowly. you need the piston to be tdc, top dead center. once you have the piston tdc then put attach the light to the spark plug hole. follow the instructions in your chiltons manual for proper timing and adjust your light to conform to the chiltons manual. have your helper start the truck and let it idle. turn the light on making sure that it is adjusted to what chiltons says it should be and shine the light on the harmonic balance and the timing gauge in the timing chain housing. if the line on the harmonic balancer doea not line up on the gauge. you will only see this under the strobe from the timing light. then grab the dist with one hand and keep ahold of the light with your other hand. slowly turn the dist until the line on tha harmonic balance tines up in the center of the gauge. you may need to turn the dist clockwise or counter clockwise. make sure you go slowly it doesnt take much to fly right past the mark. once the line on the hartmonic balancer lines up properly turn the motor off and tighten the bolts down on the retainer clip on the distributor. your done.

your best bet is to get the chiltons manual and get someone that you know that you are confident that they know what they are talking about and has replaced a distributor before to help.



why do you need to replace the distributor? there arenat a lot of parts on a distributor and only a few of the parts ever need to be changed? none of these parts are very expensive. i have never had to replace a distributor, only pull one out when working on the timing or replacing a part on the distributor.