I was doing a smog pretest today and when they checked the timing it was at 24. I was pretty surprised. I never advanced or retarded the timing so how did this happen? Can the ecu adjust timing itself? Since then I resetted the ecu and I'm going to buy a timing gun tommorow to check it.

 

ever move or play with the distributor cap? possibly lean on it while tryin to get to a part in the back of the engine bay?

 

was the motor fully warm and at idle?

 

make sure the engine is in lymph mode when you check your timing. there is a little plug harness under your dash called the service connector i believe. anyways, get a wire and put one end in one side and the other end of the wire in the other. if you dont have this wire in, you will get wrong timing readings.

 

without jumping the service connector I just get "jumpy" readings for timing... but the timing is usually accurate as long is the motor is warm and the idle is set correctly.

Dustin

 

Also you will want to unplug the idle valve to drop the idle to around 500. This is when you want to set the crank timing to the designated point. You wont have proper timing if you do this above 700 rpm's.

 

The ecu doesn't add any advance until you are above idle. THe hondata site says to do that (idle at 500) but it really isn't necessary.

Dustin

 

The engine was warmed up and at idle. Ill try connecting hte service connector and trying again.

 

Oh yeah when I did the pre-test the NO emissions was too high on the 15mph test but fine for hte 25mph test. Do you think it would run cleaner if I set the timing at 16 or 18?

 

ttt

 

"lymph" mode lol
Its not limp mode either, rather it would be diagnostic mode.

 

You are only allowed + or - 3 degrees in the state of California. More than that, it's history.

 

you ever try that? every time I ever tried unplugging that connector, the engine idles down to zero

 

hmm it shouldn;t drop to zero...mine stays at about 500 ish rpm...