tune up on 97

[Wookie]

Hi all, this is my first time here so please be gental i am a retired honda tech who has a friend with a 97 series I w/a 3.9 that i did some work on, He brought it to me because it was low on power.i noticed that it was only running on 7 cyclinders so i found that the #1 plug was foueld & not firing (so cleaned and re-installed plug)but told him this was temp;He was amaized at the power he regained and said it ran like new.
Ok are you still with me? here's the problem,i did a complete tune up went to start it up and no fire, then i noticed the cap moving as he tried to turn it over. pulled cap and noticed that when i pulled the rotor i pulled the center shaft up so turned shaft until it dropped back down and re-installed rotor & cap it fired up but ran rough for a few then smoothed out but didnt seem as responsive as b-4 but he had to go so he drove it home (2 hrs away) towing a 18ft trailer.said it ran ok but really could'nt tell if it still had power since he was towing trailer for first time. now pop ahead a week and he goes out to start it up and it wont start at first but finally gets it to start so now it hit or miss on startups ,naturally i feel responsible so now im going to take the 2 hr drive to his place to fix . any help would greatly be appreciated.

[Disco Mike]

I have read that pulling too hard on the rotor to replace it can cause internal distributor problems and just repositioning the shaft may not be all that is needed.
Hopefully someone with more experience on this will chime in here and help you.
Mike

[buick215]

This is very common,but can be repaired.There is a small plastic collet in the top of the Dizzy shaft under the rotor arm - this will now be broken after pulling the rotor off.The shaft rusts,swelling up slightly and makes the rotor a tight fit.
You need to remove the dizzy,(its alot easier to do this on the bench/carefully in a vice) ignore the warnings about removing the clear plastic shield and strip the unit down.You will see that the balance weights in the bottom have come out of their slots and the advance/retard will no longer work.Clean it all up,oil the main shaft and carefully put it all back together,you can crimp up the advance springs if they are a bit loose.Just be careful in setting the air gap on the reluctor/pickup,2-3 thou is ok.When its all together again a small piece of platic air hose cut about 1/4 in long will do to replace the broken collet,(RR EAS line hose is what I use) A very thin smear of grease on the shaft will help the rotor off next time.Here in the UK we only use LR or Lucas rotors and caps as the aftermarket ones are so poor.Put the dizzy back in and set the timing up and you are away.Two things,first the rotor should twist against spring pressure whilst holding the drive gear at the bottom - not slop around.Second,ALWAYS hold the rotor shaft down with a screwdriver when trying to get the rotor off.

[Wookie]

Thank you all for the help! this is a quality forum with quality members. i'll let you know how it play's out.