heard a grinding inside distributor. ripped it apart, cleaned about 2 lbs of red carbon dust out of it, put some bearing lubricant on shaft and bearings. Put her back together, accidently advanced timing a bit by forgetting to mark exactly how it was when i pulled it off, and voila. The sputtering i've had for 2 or so years is gone. So retarding timing creates sputtering but why is that so? how did advancing the timing remove the sputtering??

im sure this is super dumb question but I seem to understand things better when i know why or how it is as it is.

 

Was your timing even set right in the beginning?

 

if your timing is too retarded, fuel can still be burning as it is exiting the exhaust causing the sputtering. With retarded timing The spark occurs later then it normally would, (as in closer to TDC) which means the fuel has less time to completely burn before the exhaust valve opens. When the exhaust valve does open, any remaining unburnt fuel is going to travel down your exhaust, potentially being lit off by hot spots etc, causing the sputtering sound.

Going too advanced is also bad, as you don't want to fight the pistons upward travel when peak combustion occurs (which SHOULD happen at TDC - you want it timed at 15 BTDC, but the peak combustion when the force is at it's max should occur at tdc - just to clarify haha) on the compression stroke.

 

IM really glad someone answered that in a reasonable amt of time without any BS in it. for good tech in the Prelude forum.

Also glad u fixed ur prob with the car. Feels good to learn something new, eh?

 

NO!, it wasn't mgags. lol. Ran like that ever since i had the motor dropped in by a total bunch of nubs (used mechanics of those who sold me car for a discount on labour and parts)

runs unbelievably now. Now just that little rattling from the shift fork in my tranny.

Should you or do you reset your ecu when you advance or retard your timing??

if you advance timing too far you'll hear a spark knock anyways right? thats when you know its advanced too far. ?? (*edit* i actually shifted my dizzy farward, which ment i retarded the timing) (heh, yeah im a nub, im getting it though)

 

mattsnooz, you don't have to reset your ecu, but WHILE you are adjusting timing, you should have the service connector jumped.