Timing Issue

[AHayes88]

I know you guys get a lot of this, so I apologize in advance!

Anyway, for a long time now my car has rattled under acceleration, and not even hard acceleration. I bought a timing light last week and decided to fix it this weekend. The light I bought has a dial on the back that starts at 0 and goes to 60 in increments of 2. The manual that came with it said to set the dial to 0. I did this and checked the timing with the spout connector connected and the white mark I put on the harmonic balancer (On the 0 mark) was to the left of the timing marker. I assumed this is why my car rattled and smelled light fuel all the time so I..

Unplugged the spout connector
Loosened the distributor
Started the car
Move the distributor until the white mark was on the timing mark

Then I turned the car off and put the plug back in the spout connector. I checked the timing and it was back where it was before I moved the distributor. I unplugged the spout connector, the engine didn't seem to like that but it straightened up. I checked the timing and the white matches with the time mark once again, plugged the spout connector again then engine seemed to slow down and the timing moved back.

I decided to take it out for a drive, the car seems to have lost a little power but there is no rattling anymore. I don't race or anything so if this is how it's supposed to be I'll make do with the power loss. It's not much power loss, but it's noticeable.

So did I do something wrong? The engine sounds like the timing has been retarded. Also, was I supposed to put the dial on 10 if I want to set it at 10? If so, that manual is crap and now I gotta go redo this.

 

[94kingcbra]

what octane gas are you using?

 

[ryclef331]

You backed your timing down so YES, you lost some power BUT now you're not detonating. With a dial back timing light, if you set that dial on "10" when you shoot it at the balancer, you will see the "0" flashing on the balancer. Now, if you set that dial back dial to "0." it works like an old school non-dial back timing light.

The SPOUT connector lets the computer control the timing when its plugged it so when you plugged it back in, YES its going to move on you.

 

[CC'S95GT]

by rattling do you mean pinging. i don't have one of those fancy lights with a dial on it . but base timing is 10btdc with the spout connector out. by pulling the spout your taking the advance out of the timing thats why when you plug it back in the computer takes over and the timing jumps back up. don;t worry bout that. just set it with the spout out. also what grade of gas are you running. with the timing set at say 14 mine will ping so i just set it back to 12 so i can run 87 without the ping

 

[AHayes88]

what octane gas are you using?

87 until 93 comes down a bit more.

You backed your timing down so YES, you lost some power BUT now you're not detonating. With a dial back timing light, if you set that dial on "10" when you shoot it at the balancer, you will see the "0" flashing on the balancer. Now, if you set that dial back dial to "0." it works like an old school non-dial back timing light.

The SPOUT connector lets the computer control the timing when its plugged it so when you plugged it back in, YES its going to move on you.

Oh I see, thanks. Yeah I'll leave it how it is, I'd rather not have detonation. Previous owner must have messed with the timing..

 

[AHayes88]

by rattling do you mean pinging. i don't have one of those fancy lights with a dial on it . but base timing is 10btdc with the spout connector out. by pulling the spout your taking the advance out of the timing thats why when you plug it back in the computer takes over and the timing jumps back up. don;t worry bout that. just set it with the spout out. also what grade of gas are you running. with the timing set at say 14 mine will ping so i just set it back to 12 so i can run 87 without the ping

By rattling I mean the sounds of putting BBs in a soda can and shaking the can. I'm running 87.

 

[Rice_slayer]

Mine starting pinging too when the temps starting reaching 25 degrees and up. My dad says higher octane gas will fix it, which since my car needs some better gas to flush some of the system, I will flop the money on the better gas. Hot days=crappy performance.

 

[AHayes88]

Well I never run the cheapest gas out there. I usually fill up with BP gas and it doesn't rattle as badly. Wawa gas.. well all I'm gunna say is that's some terrible stuff to put in your car from what I've seen. The car always rattled even during the winter when it was 20 degrees outside. I'll definitely readjust my timing for 93 when prices come down or I win the lottery.

 

[AHayes88]

Oh, one more question. Say I do want to bump the timing up to 14*, how would I do that with this light? I could see messing with the dial on the back if I had set it at 10 in the first place, but I didn't, I set it to 0. Should I just move it to the second line for a 4* increase?

 

[94kingcbra]

I'm not sure what your timing light dial looks like, but you can use the marks on the harmonic balancer. Just mark 12-14 btdc with some white chalk, with the spout out, and your timing light set to 0, move the distributor until the white chalk line matches back up.

 

[AHayes88]

Alright, that makes sense. I know this isn't that complicated, but I've never used a timing light before and the manual is terrible.

 

[ryclef331]

Alright, that makes sense. I know this isn't that complicated, but I've never used a timing light before and the manual is terrible.

Your best bet is to just leave the dial on the light and zero and shoot for lining up your desired timing mark on the balancer.

The dial back is if you have shitty eye sight or just don't want crawl under the car to clean off your balancer. You can mark your balancer's ZERO with a big line and then you can just turn the dial on the gun to your desired degrees and when you shoot, all you have to do is just line up that same line (that you put on zero) every time.

Oh keep in mind, that DIAL BACK TIMING LIGHTS DO NOT WORK WITH MSD IGNITION BOXES!

 

[CC'S95GT]

at 14 deg you may need to run 93 octane all the time to keep it from pinging