Rotor arm problems

[Maestro384]

after looking through previous queries on here I've seen were somebody's rotor arm came out completely when trying to replace it
When replacing my rotor arm last week it was a right sod to get off the shaft came out of the end of the cam I the prised the old arm off bolted the new one on then just pushed the shaft with new rotor arm on it back into the end of the cam but was surprised as there wasn't anywhere to locate it where it wouldn't turn inside the cam can anybody help please and could that cause the over fuelling and dirty black condensation coming out of the exhaust

[G4GLM]

This is what it looks like inside. It’s a round shaft with a flat section which goes into a rubber bushed piece. I haven’t had mine out yet but it looks like a dual mass flywheel, metal inner, rubber bush then metal outer??

[Maestro384]

Should the rotar arm be glued in or do I need to take rocker cover off to access it easier it was a sod getting the dizzy cap off what with air box and inter cooler pipes being in the way.brilliant idea having a dizzy cap that's bolted on that you struggle like mad to get off

[thamestyres]

if you time the engine on the timing belt the rotor arm should be pointing at number one cylinder on the dissy cap, it only has to fire/conduct at the right moment, so will not affect the engine timing as such... right place right time sort of thing... it can be glued in place but don't get any on the rotor arm... try running it before you glue it.... regards ricky

[Maestro384]

I'll take dizzy off and have a look at where it's pointing

[Doctordiesel77]

one thing to be aware of is that the timing marks on an o series are set so that pistons are all halfway up the bores (to keep valves and pistons well apart) so the mark is at 90°btdc rather than at the firing point or tdc.

[Maestro384]

I've been messing with the rs today doing the weekly start and warm up as its in a nice warm garage the maestro is outside and it's Baltic at the moment so I'm waiting for temp to go up a bit before I get bonnet open and check

[thamestyres]

one thing to be aware of is that the timing marks on an o series are set so that pistons are all halfway up the bores (to keep valves and pistons well apart) so the mark is at 90°btdc rather than at the firing point or tdc.

you are right I forgot that... but the first cylinder to fire will be number one, so in the direction of rotation the next contact will be number 1... with the screwdriver in number one turn 90 degrees to tdc and the rotor arm should be pointing to number one contact on the dissy..

[Maestro384]

When I took the dizzy cap off to replace rotor arm I noted the position where it was pointing and put it back the same position but my worry was that the whole thing came out of the end of the cam and when I refitted it it would turn whils inserted into the end of the cam as this is the first maestro I've ever had it puzzled me that with conventional points and rotor and dizzy cam is that the rotor arm generally pushes onto the shaft and will only go on in a set position and then cannot manually be turned by hand whereas it did on my engine and as I've never had a classic car with electronic ignition I'm having to learn new tricks all my others have had points so are dead easy to set up I.e no1 cylinder tdc feeler gauges strobe light
I'm relatively clueless even though I've acquired the montego manual with supplementary models which covers mg maestro turbo

[E_T_V]

The bush deteriorates with time and eventually the inner comes out. You need to glue it back in in the right position. I think I used flange sealant on mine when mine started moving whilst it was being driven giving all sorts of mysterious running issues that were tricky to trace.

[Maestro384]

As mine has been off the road for 12 years I expected the engine to be a complete rebuild job but it starts first turn of key no knocks or rattles or blue smoke due to valve stem oil seals mine just has black watery **** coming out of the exhaust which generally on classic cars is over fuelling or timing needing adjusting so I'm hoping that I've not put rotor arm in right position but I would have thought it wouldn't start or Rickover if that was the case

[Doctordiesel77]

overfuelling most likely the seals on stepper motor deteriorated...

[Maestro384]

Would that cause the mucky black watery stuff from the exhaust and the plugs to soot like they are but not wet and smelling of fuel which they arent

[Doctordiesel77]

I'd be fairly happy pinning the sooty plugs on overfuelling, but not sure about the other symptoms..

[E_T_V]

Unless the engine has been driven the plugs will be sooty - I'd not worry just yet. It'll take a run to get them back to their normal tan/brown colour. Running at idle won't really clean them up as the engine isn't under load.