Put on my new distributor last night, and went to set timing, I have it turned all the way counter clockwise and it looks like its still on 20+ deg.

And thats with the timing light connected closest to the spark plug side of the wire, if I had it connected near the distributor it would like like 25+ deg (guestimating)..

The distributor that was on there was dead in the middle.. I don't get it, maybe the timing light is bad?

Anyone have any ideas?



Modified by GaRn at 2:10 PM 2/2/2006

 

did you have the test connector grounded while checking timing?

 

The service jumper? yea I had it jumped..

The car might not have been completely warmed up, I'll try that tonight.

 

I read that the marks to the right and left stand for +/-2, so I was into the 20's then..

 

I think your off a tooth on the distributor.

 

off a tooth on the distributor? do you mean the exhaust cam? everything is lined up I believe.. I will test it tonight again and double check things..

 

Make sure the rotor points at #1 when you are at TDC according to the timing marks on the flywheel.

 

Rechecked tonight, and its right on 16(in between 15 and mark to the right). Its just weird that it took maxxing out in terms of retarding the distributor to get it where it needs to be!

Maybe it was in my head, but the car feels sluggish, even though its at the right timing..

It didn't seem to make a difference if I jumped the service connector or not.. as a matter of fact, I don't really know which one it is.. I have a blue one and a brown one..

 

At idle the connector really won't make a difference. I would still set the flywheel at TDC compression and see if the rotor is pointing to #1(and would it be pointed at #1 if the distributor was in it's former position). Maybe some one else would know for sure if it is possible to be off a tooth mechanically and still get the electrical timing within range.

 

It's not possible to time it if the belt is off a tooth. Is this a remanufactured distributor? If so it could be assembled wrong. Try taking it off and removing the part that goes into the cam. It has like a snap ring then you slide out the pin then flip it 180 then put the pin and ring back on then put the distributor back on and try it all again. Unless you have messed with the timing belt in which case I would say you did something wrong.

 

It is an aftermarket distrbibutor, but not rebuilt, all new..

If it was assembled 180 deg like you are saying(or what I am getting from what you said), then i wouldnt even be able to see any timing marks right?

I changed the timing belt a way back, but it is on correctly, I know, I triple checked :D

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Skidtron89 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's not possible to time it if the belt is off a tooth. Is this a remanufactured distributor? If so it could be assembled wrong. Try taking it off and removing the part that goes into the cam. It has like a snap ring then you slide out the pin then flip it 180 then put the pin and ring back on then put the distributor back on and try it all again. Unless you have messed with the timing belt in which case I would say you did something wrong.</TD></TR></TABLE>

its not possible to install the distributor 180 out of wack. it is keyed so that not matter what it won't sit flush until you have it installed correctly

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amckee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">At idle the connector really won't make a difference. I would still set the flywheel at TDC compression and see if the rotor is pointing to #1(and would it be pointed at #1 if the distributor was in it's former position). Maybe some one else would know for sure if it is possible to be off a tooth mechanically and still get the electrical timing within range.</TD></TR></TABLE>

when ever setting timing, if you don't jump the connector it will make a difference. at idle timing moves all ove rthe place, and depending on if the car is warmed up or not then it won't even be close to 15*

garn, the only way that you could be that far off is that if the service connector is jumped and your maxing the dizzy out and still reading 20* then your cam timing is off. ideally with an unstretched timing belt the distributor should be smack in the middle. not always the case but if everything is set correctly then you shouldn't be far off from center.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prelittlelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
when ever setting timing, if you don't jump the connector it will make a difference. at idle timing moves all ove rthe place, and depending on if the car is warmed up or not then it won't even be close to 15*

</TD></TR></TABLE>With the engine warm, I have never seen a difference at idle between a jumped connector or not jumped. If the car is idling(750) without the connector jumped, I've never seen the timing move unless you goose the throttle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amckee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">With the engine warm, I have never seen a difference at idle between a jumped connector or not jumped. If the car is idling(750) without the connector jumped, I've never seen the timing move unless you goose the throttle. </TD></TR></TABLE>

well alot of my experience has to do with setting intial timing before tuning a car, so with a untuned car its usually all over the place at idle, and not idling at 750 for that matter either, thats why i always jump the connector and it forces it to run at 15*..

probably with a stock ecu it won't be so bab, but i ahve seen it move a bit..

 

Let me ask you the same question I posed earlier. Is it possible to mechanicaly be off a tooth and still be able to get the electrical timing to the point that he has? And if so would this account for his sluggishness since even though he would be firing at the right time, his valves would be early or late?

 

I think one tooth off is quite a large amount, I think it was in my head.. I haven't driven the car for a while waiting on this distributor and I think I forgot what turbo lag is like hah..

It seems to be good now, although I had to max the distributor out to get it at 16 deg..

 

Well, turns out I was one tooth off on my exhaust cam, it must have skipped :/

 

this may be a little off subject, but its kinda ontopic as well.

This is the best ignition timing writeup i have ever found online:

http://www.superhonda.com/foru...99818