Please forgive my ignorance here, but - hey - i'm a girl! I had the timing belt replaced on my 2000 civic last month by my trusted mechanic. Yesterday when I had the car smogged (i'm in CA), the timing went to 16 BTDC and that mechanic told me the spec was 12 and I was losing power, using more gas and risking damage to my engine. When I went back to my trusted mechanic, he told me the opposite, that the advanced BTDC was saving gas and giving me more power. Who is right?????

 

Advancing the timing does risk damage to the engine if you encounter preignition/detonation. Honda suggests 12 degrees base ignition timing to ensure peak cylinder pressure will occur at the correct crank angle.

I would retard it back to 12 degrees BTDC. Aside from listening for pinging/knocking, you won't know what effect advancing the timing 4 degrees will have on your engine.

 

Thanks for the info. My engine was pinging when cold and my mechanic told me it had nothing to do with the timing, that it was the valves that needed adjustment. Might be time to find a new mechanic!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by curiouser &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks for the info. My engine was pinging when cold and my mechanic told me it had nothing to do with the timing, that it was the valves that needed adjustment. Might be time to find a new mechanic!</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yup, I'd say so...