trouble finding tdc?

[ecarlincoln]

I'm either horrible at searching, or I'm missing somthing. I'm trying to set the engine at tdc to do a timing job on a 2000 ls 3.9l and I have it close with the old school screw driver in cylinder 1, but how can I verify that I am indeed at tdc?

 

[joegr]

Remove the crankshaft position sensor.
If you look in the hole that the sensor came out of, as you rotate the crankshaft, you will see a special shape hole in the flexplate where the Ford crankshaft lock tool would go. Line that up with the opening for the crankshaft sensor. You may have to rotate the crankshaft another 360° to get the cams in the right position (where all the flats are on top and lined up).

 

[ecarlincoln]

Remove the crankshaft position sensor.
If you look in the hole that the sensor came out of, as you rotate the crankshaft, you will see a special shape hole in the flexplate where the Ford crankshaft lock tool would go. Line that up with the opening for the crankshaft sensor. You may have to rotate the crankshaft another 360° to get the cams in the right position (where all the flats are on top and lined up).

Thank you! One more question. Only one side oof the engine is out if time, so theoretically if I pull both valve covers and align the flats on the side that is in tome, would that also be tdc? I'm assuming the Flatts on both sides of the engine should align the same at the same time?

 

[joegr]

Thank you! One more question. Only one side oof the engine is out if time, so theoretically if I pull both valve covers and align the flats on the side that is in tome, would that also be tdc? I'm assuming the Flatts on both sides of the engine should align the same at the same time?

Well, apparently I shouldn't be discussing such trivial things at a time like this, but...

Yes, the flats on both sides should line up at the same time. If you can get three out of four flats lined up at once, you should be at TDC.