Turbo D16Y8 on a P28 with Crome with a freshly replaced head not able to hit the correct timing marks.

I set my crank to the singular mark by itself which I believe is TDC.




Then I set the camshaft sprocket to TDC and matched up the marks with the edge of the block.

Got the belt back on and rotated counter clockwise a bunch of times and it still lined up so I assumed that it was good to go. I warmed up the car until the fan kicks on and jumped the service connector and for some reason my car only hits the white TDC mark and will not go any closer to the 3 marks I'm supposed to be aiming for. I was told that it was a tooth off so I took everything off and repeated the process and it's STILL doing it. The distributor is as far forward (Towards the bumper) as I can get it to hit that TDC mark and when I rotate it back towards the car it goes further away from the target 3 marks and starts hesitating. The car idles well, revs just fine but I don't think this is how it's supposed to be.

Any suggestions?
EDIT: Here is what my tune looks like in Crome as far as timing goes

 

Well to start, you have a D16Y8 so your base timing is 12°, not 16°. You can idle at whatever you want to in your maps but the marks on the pulley are at 12° so that is where you need to lock the timing when you connect the jumper or whatever you do in CROME. Is your distributor original or aftermarket? Any head milling done? Your mechanical timing looks fine from the pics.

 

Okay yeah 12 degrees is right for the y8 which is what I have. I think the z6 block is 16 dunno why its set like that. Good call. And no I have a cheapo dizzy on there now - I replaced it before I did the head I just haven't put any miles on it so it very well could be faulty. The head was not needed to be milled as far as I know.

Thanks for the help so far - I really appreciate it

 

No problem. Aftermarket distributors tend to be a problem. I would try to get a hold of an OEM one, even just to borrow it and see if you can get lined up better. You might be able to notch your distributor to get the extra travel you need, but you need to get that lined up as it also affects the injection phase.

 

The distributor has to match the cylinder head. I had this problem last time when I was using a '97 distributor on a '99 head (D16y8). The top mounting bolt of bracket wouldn't allow me to advance the distributor.

 

Yeah the distributor has to match because the 99-2000s are obd2b - totally different plug let alone the mounting bolt on the bracket. Made that mistake as well once lol

Probably going to try notching this dizzy after I replace my faulty MAP sensor that I just recently discovered. Could definitely throw things out of whack

 

Don't you have a YT channel? haha..Sup dude.

If the mechanical timing is off, likely you wont' be able to crank the car (in most cases). Double check the timing of the crank pulley and the cam gear. If that's good, do the ignition timing with the light gun.

 

Yeah man that's me haha both of those are set correctly even took pics to verify - timing still way off with the light. Betting my faulty MAP was making things go haywire. Soon as I replace that I'll try the light again! I KNOW the mechanical timing has to be correct - it fired over really well and didn't hesitate when I revved slightly

 

If you can get put in a different factory distributor, I would do that first. I've never been a fan of aftermarket aka OEM equivalent distributors. They are never as good as the one from Honda. As for your light gun, are there any adjustments on it? The old Craftsman one I use doesn't and it sets timing without a hitch.

 

side note: rotating the distributor clockwise should retard the timing, and rotating counter-clockwise should advance the timing. You said turning the distributor towards the rear of the car brings the timing further away from TDC, which makes no sense, because that sounds like counter-clockwise which advances the timing.

 

Mechanical timing was spot on lol it was a faulty MAP sensor :D Thanks for the help y'all!

 

Interesting. Did you have the timing locked while trying to set it? It shouldn't matter what's going on with the MAP if you did, and if you didn't you really should go back and re-check it.

 

Yeah it was locked, probably went into some kind of limp mode or something but yeah it's fixed. Literally all I changed was the map sensor, fired it up with the jumper still connected and moved the dizzy to the middle where it should be lol

 

Glad you got it, thanks for posting the solution!

 

Absolutely, didn't think this was going to be the fix so hopefully if someone is in my shoes it'll be something they at least consider lol

Be well!