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I just went through the trouble of replacing the distributor on my 94rs.

I removed the old distributor, installed a new distributor with new cap and new rotor, installed the distributor on the engine, put all wires back, etc. Now it's REALLY rough trying to start it and it won't run.

Am I retarded? The rotor only fits onto the shaft one way. Simple.

The cap only fits on the body one way. Simple.

There's only 2 stupid bolts... seems simple!

Now here -- correct me if i'm wrong, but the part shaped like -0- that slips into the head only goes into the gear one way, right? Do I need to futz around with TDC and all of that? I didn't mark any lines before disassembly because the diagrams (and instructions) in the manual made it seem like there wasn't any need.

Please, someone who has done this, lend a noob a hand!

- P.

well you need to adjust your timing now by moving your cap or rotor. Do some searching. I don't know crap about this so i would say Search or just wait til someone can reply some time this weekend or tomorrow.

jumper the ten and ground terminals in the diagnostic box. get a timing light, connect the timing light to the battery, and put the clamp on the #1 plug wire. turn on the car, shoot the gun at the timing marks on the crank pulley. gently turn the distributor one way or the other until you're at 10* BTDC. tighten the bolts on the disty, and remove the jumper. you're done. this is "assuming" that you have everything else how it's supposed to be.

make sure your firing order is correct too.

Okay. To complicate matters there is a discrepancy between what is stamped on my new distributor cap and what the Mazda manual is telling me. Where should the rotor really point at TDC? Facing the distributor, the manual says 10:00, the cap cays 2:00.

Annoying. Plus my car alarm goes off every time I put on the battery cable, leading to a stern warning from the apartment manager.

Well, I fixed it, no thanks to Shop Manual.

It turns out the distributor sockets are mislabeled indicating which plug wire belongs where in the Shop manual.

The distributor only fits into the car *one* way due to the presence of a notch on the gear that connects to the cam. All the fuss about TDC, etc., that you will read about in general distributor replacement guides does *not* apply to the B6.

I used the pattern in the Shop Manual to no avail... but tried the pattern stamped on the cap and it fired up and idled smooth.

having the car at TDC helps to find the correct position of the disty for timing purposes. it may only go in one way, but it can still move from side to side a good bit. congrats on fixing the problem though.