My 88 trooper 2.6l broke a timing belt. I have since fixed the belt, but now i can't get the damn timing right. I have done what the haynes manual says, but i don't put a lot of faith in that manual. I've timed it on piston 1, with the cam on #1 compression stroke and Distributer on #1, and it has no power and still pings. Like the book says, i've timed it on piston 4, with the cam on 4 compression stroke and distributor on 4. Still nothing. Please help. I am thinking about putting it on 1 piston, 1 compression cam, and then turning the distributor to #4 just for the hell of it. I'm running out of ideas. anyone else have an idea. Thanks

If you have both the mark lined up on the cam gear as well the mark on the crank gear lined up(NOT the crank pulley) the engine is at TDC on #4. On most of the distributor bodies there should be a mark that the rotor should be pointing towards at TDC #4(if theres not a mark, it should be pointing to about the 10-11 o'clock position if your looking directly at the distributor). The other way is to set the crank pulley at the 0 degree position, which would theoretically put the engine at TDC #1. I don't trust the timing marks on the crank pulley as I've come across more than one that has been off. Personally the way I set my initial timing is to line everything up @ TDC #4. Hope this helps.