Genuine 2006 Mazda Tribute Piston

2006 Mazda Tribute Piston Parts and Q&A

• Q: How to find Top Dead Center (TDC) for Piston cylinders 1 and 5 in an engine without a distributor on 2006 Mazda Tribute?

  A: Despite the fact that this engine has no distributor, the crankshaft pulley has timing marks, as well as a fixed pointer on the front cover of the engine, allowing cylinders 1 and 5 to be located relative to Top Dead Center (TDC). The peak of the cylinder of which each piston reaches during its upwards movement when the crankshaft turns, on both the compression and exhaust strokes, but is more commonly used to mean the compression stroke. Placing a piston or pistons at TDC is also necessary when doing numerous operations that include; removing rocker arms, adjusting valves and also when changing timing chains. The first step is to pull out the spark plug of the 1 st cylinder and pull in a compression gauge to its location, and unscrew the cable of the negative terminal of the battery. Relax the lug nuts at the right front wheel, lift the front up and place it firmly on jackstands and then remove the right front wheel and the inner fender splash shield. Turn the crankshaft with a socket and breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley bolt clockwise until the compression reading is displayed on the gauge indicating that the piston is on the compression stroke and is nearing TDC. Keep on turning the crankshaft until the notch of the crankshaft pulley is even with the TDC mark on the timing chain cover, which means that the number one cylinder is on TDC on the compression stroke, and additional rotation is necessary before compression is detected. Passing TDC, continue rotating the engine until the timing marks indicate that the piston is before TDC then rotate the crankshaft clockwise until the timing marks align - and this final rotation must always be clockwise to eliminate slack in the timing chains. Once the number one piston has been placed at the TDC during the compression stroke, it is possible to find the TDC of any of the other cylinders by engaging in a process of turning the crankshaft and by adhering to the firing order. Using chalk marks, divide the crankshaft pulley in three sections, each marking 120 degrees of the crankshaft rotation; such that, starting at the TDC of the engine and rotating it 120 degrees, the engine will be at TDC of cylinder number 4, and the firing order will then direct the rest of the cylinder numbers.