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This video of BMW engines being manufactured in China very well illustrates where all the unskilled repetitive jobs have gone, and why they're not coming back in America or anywhere else. What BMW has done in China is being repeated by every industry everywhere. If it can be automated, it will be and except for a handful of operators the only people employed by those businesses will be tradesmen maintaining the robots. Education and trades training is far more important today than it has ever been.

Bring the piston up to TDC on compression. Watch the valves as you do it. When it is TDC compression, both valves will be closed. If you take the spark plug out you should be able to see into the cylinder to confirm when the piston is at the top. If you can't see the piston , you can use a dowel or even a pencil to feel for the piston reaching the top.. Be sure to turn the motor over slowly by hand. You don't want to break off the dowel or pencil in the cylinder.When you see (or feel) the piston at TDC then you can look to see what line most closely lines up with whatever indicator there may be. The piston doesn't have to be exactly at TDC to set the valves , but it must be close enough that both valves are closed, and not beginning to open ... There are a few degrees rotation after the intake valves have closed and before the exhaust valves begin to open.