sebwout

Hi there,

I am from Belgium and just bought a 200 Turbo with KG engine (MAC5 ECU).

I bought the car non-running, being told it was either the distributor or the TDC sensors. The car is in very good condition, always good maintained.

The man I bought the car from tried to "repair" the original distributor and ended up dismantling it completely so I only have the body of the original 0237028007 distributor.

To try to start the car he sold it to me with a distributor from a NA engine, with vacuum and speed adjustement.

After 3 hours of work, SJM website reading and head scratching, I sucessfully started the car, just by switching the RPM and TDC sensor connectors and by turning the distributor which was completely off.

The car ran great, running very smooth when cold. Once hot, it was sputtering under 1800-2000 RPM. Above that, no problem. When I was hitting high RPM, big loss of power during a few minutes. I guess this is the distributor speed adjustment going too far and the ECU does not read it anymore so it switches in security mode?
Starting the car was sometimes hard, sometimes easy. Hot and cold.

So to start on a good basis I ordered a complete service kit (not installed yet), new distributor and new RPM and TDC sensors (which are the same, correct?).

I started then changing the sensors. Car was running just like before, no changes. Maybe a little less sputtering.

Then I installed the new distributor. The car would not start anymore...
I turned it in every position I could, no start.

I opened it and discovered it had a "1 window" sensor, and that the distributor the car was running before had 5 windows.

Maybe I have been a little bit too impatient on this one, but I ended up making a complete mix of the 2 distributors.
I suspected the hall sensor of the new distributor to be not working.
So the actual distributor has: new body (no spring activated speed adjustment), old hall sensor and 5 windows.

The car starts fine when I put the distributor in one position. Then I have to turn it a little bit for the engine to run smooth.
If I lock it in this position and I shut off the engine, it will not start back. I have to turn it again a little bit...

This is where I am today.
When doing the ECU self check-up (try to start for 5 sec then activate by hand full throttle switch and read RPM) the fault I have each time is hall sensor.

When setting up the distributor I always find TDC ( 0 mark in the transmission inspection hole) and then align distributor rotor with the notch on the body.

I also think about changing my ignition coil, but this model (2 Pin connector) seems hard to find.

Have you guys any hint for me?
Is the 1 window or 5 windows correct for this engine?
Any way to go from 2-Pin coil to 3-Pin coil like on later models?

Many thanks for your help.

sebwout

Ok guys I finally solved the problem on my own.
For those who might be interested;

I swapped back de 1 window sensor in the distributor.
Then followed strictly the alignment procedure:

- turn your engine to TDC ( "o" mark in the transmission inspection hole)
- verify that you are truly on cylinder nr1 TDC: the point stamped on the back side of the camshaft sprocket should be aligned with the cam cover seal surface. If you can't find it, simply open the oil cap and verify that the cam lobes of cylinder 1 are facing upwards and not downards.
- now that you have found TDC , insert your distributor in the engine with the electrical plug facing the firewall for convenience and make sure to align the notch on the body of the distributor (on the surface where the cap normally sits) with the notch on the window sensor that turns with the engine. That should correspond to the direction where the rotor normally points. Put the cap back on and make sure the rotor points to cyl nr1 plug.


There it is, the car now runs super fine!! No starting problem, no sputter under 2000rpm...

So now the car is running fine I could do the big service;

In 7 hours night work (from 7pm to 2am) I did: timing belt job with water pump, new thermostat, new air and fuel filters, injectors cleaning and new seals, cam cover paint and new seals, timing cover paint, 3 new accessories belts...

First time timing belt on this car, I made a crank blocking tool in a few minutes out of a box section and big plier
Very easy job everything went smoothly for once.

My (3 or 4 I need to check) way water temperature sensor under the water line on the head started leaking...
I understood that you can only find new 3 way sensors now. What if mine is a 4 way??