I own a 91 civic lx sedan, and someone told me dat my DISTRIBUTOR was "RETARDED". waT does that mean?

 

your ignition timing is off.
your spark plug is firing late.
you need a timing light to adjust it
18 ±2°(RED) BTDC (before top dead center) in case you dont have the original hood

 

^^^ Thats good advice, but chances are that if he doesnt know what retarded timing means, he probably doesnt know what 18btdc means either.

Basically, as mentioned above, your timing is off. your distributor is turned too far forward. If you loosen up the three bolts, you can rotate it towards the back (towards the inside of the car) and this would effectively advance your timing.

Towards front of car=retarding. The opposite=advancing.

I used to be able to set the timing pretty well on my old BMW's by turning the car on and letting it idle. I would then rotate the distributor and set it "by ear." But, it is difficult to properly set the timing on your car without a timing light though, so I suggest you have someone else do it for you. Good luck.

 

what does the car run like when timing is retarted?

 

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LOL the person means you're timing is off-. Its timed back, to advance loosen the 3 easly stripable 12 mm bolts and u can move the dis. Its kinda like clocking a starter. Back in the 40s and back, when ud get a new starter, you wound need to clock the starter and the stator, big diesel trucks exp. Detroits and cummins need to be clocked just like a dis.


Wow.... I need to leave my work at work. Hate clocking starters

 

I cant really describe it. One thing that you will notice right away, is that your car feels underpowered.

 

YES! THANK U! that is exactly how it feels! i floor it and nothing happens. at times when i am wanting to c wat my car has (hp) i floor it and dis is wat happens.......im taking off right,,,,shift at like 4k hitting (20mph), then w3hen i get to 3rd, im going like maybe 35mph. ok cool,, then i'lle just b cruising normally and when i feel like its all cool,, i just punch the throttle all da way & it jus feels like its struggling to respond. so yeup.....

 

Anyone know if the LS spark plug wires will work with a B16?