Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hi there...as I mentioned I'm really new at working with cars. We are tring to find top dead center. Is it possible for the rotor pointer to not be pointing to number 1 plug when at top dead center according to where the service manual says it should be? The rotor hasn't been changed to our knowledge since it was started 20 years ago so should be right. It doesn't make sense. Also battery is good but car is losing power when off. We aren't sure what's going on.

As it's a 4-cycle engine there are 2 TDC positions, one with the piston at the end of the compression stroke and the other at the end of the exhaust stroke. The rotor should be under plug #1 only when at TDC on the compression stroke.

You find TDC by using the timing marks and pointer on the vibration damper, not by the position of the rotor.

What model Packard are you working on? How are you determining TDC? Is it possible you are using the marks on the vibration damper to determine TDC in which case you may have the TDC at the exhaust stroke position for #1 cylinder? Turn the crankshaft 360 degrees to the TDC mark again and see where the distributor rotor is pointing. Remember that the crankshaft rotates twice for each time the distributor rotates. If you are indeed at TDC on the compression stroke and the rotor is not at or very near the # 1 plug wire terminal the engine will not run.
Please give us more information on your battery problem as I personally am not quite sure what the problem is that your trying to solve. In any event others on the site will be more knowledgeable than me who will be able to give more detailed advice. In any case welcome back and I hope that your problems can be solved.

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Yes. If the oil pump and/or distributor has been removed and re-installed it's possible for the rotor to point at a #1 position other than that shown in the manual when the #1 piston is at the top of the compression stroke.

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They're working on a '53 Clipper Touring Sedan (2692).

" Battery is good ,but car is losing power when off".
Disconnect positive cable from battery terminal, in a darkened area touch the positive cable to pos. terminal you will see a spark. You have whats commonly called a short or something is turned on & drawing energy. Now all thats needed is what & where.
Packard 385

re: "Battery is good...."

Other places to check for a slow battery drain are:

1. Glove box light (sometimes they are not 'off' when
the glove box door is shut).

2. Trunk Light. They are often controlled by a mercury
switch mounted on the hinge or are part of the actual
light socket....sometime they are mis adjusted and
do not turn off when the trunk is shut....

3. If you have a generator with a condenser mounted on
the top body of the generator, sometimes the
condensers short out and will cause a very slow
drain on the battery. I had a '57 Lincoln with a
chronic battery drain problem and it turned out to
be a shorted condenser on the body of the generator.

Hi Vancouver:

If you remove the oil pump from the Packard straight eight motor the distributer timing can be lost. When number one is at TDC the slot in the distributer shaft should be horizontal. If it is not, someone has lost the timing and switched to wires around to make the car run.

The best way to get TDC is to find the timing marks on the crankshaft pulley and bring the marks to zero. This is not exact due to timing chain slack, but a timing light can fix that once the motor is running.

The best way to find number one TDC from scratch is to crank the motor with a piece of paper towel stuffed into the spark plug hole. When it pops the motor is on the compression stroke. From there you can line up the timing marks and set up the distributor for the 1-6-2-5-8-3-7-4 firing order. The rotor turns counter clockwise.

Hope this helps.