1993 Accord Wagon bought in FL in Oct. for my daughters in school. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor. Starts and runs reasonably well, but only got 24 mpg for the trip home to Cincinnati. Going over it while they are home. Checked timing, at idle, at temperature, with connector shorted there isn't enough adjustment range to line up the red mark; as far as I can go is about halfway between the white (TDC) and red timing mark. Means the timing belt is probably off by a tooth or so, correct? I haven't personally done a timing belt on one of my Accords (always in too big a hurry to have it done). Is there a way to shift it back without taking the left side apart? If I tilt the cam (I want to take the rocker assemblies off and replace the o-rings under the caps to cure oil in the spark plug holes), does that create enough slack to shift the belt?

I know, I know, I should take the time to do it right.

 

Removed the valve cover. With TDC on flywheel lined up, "UP" mark and head alignment marks on the cam gear appear to be in the correct position. Is there something in the distributor drive or internal to the distributor that can cause the amount of error I see? FYI, check engine light does not come on other than initial check at start up. Update. Went ahead and removed rocker assembly and replaced spark plug hole seals (easier than I thought, old ones were now like brittle plastic). Reinstalled, adjusted valves, reinstalled cover. No change to timing issue (not that I expected it to help).

 

CKP, TDC, and CYP sensor resistances OK. Could one or more of these pickups or rotors be mislocated in the distributor housing (looks like it might be an aftermarket distributor)? Any suggestions? I am assuming that if was something simple, someone would have called me a d__b a__ already.

 

So you need to rotate the distributor housing a couple of degrees more than the mounting bolt holes allow? Maybe you can enlarge these holes using a dremel?

 

Shouldn't have to do that. There has to be something else wrong - just don't know what it is.

 

if the markings are lined up, either ts using the wrong dizzy or the engine has had the head shaved or the block decked.

 

are you sure the marks on the cam to the block mark were lined up while the cam was also lined up????

If it is off, it will do what you say, not be on timing with the dizzy turned all the way.

 

If the head and/or block had been milled, the cam pulley markings wouldn't have lined up correctly with the head when #1 was at TDC, correct? And that wouldn't result in the approximately 7 or 8 degrees error I see. Leads me back to the distributor. Could a bad sensor (outside the distributor) cause this much error even with the diagnostic connector shorted?

 

CRAP! I am a D__B A__!. If all else fails, read the directions. It helps if the timing light one is using is set correctly. Dialed it right in. Now I have no idea if it was off in the first place.

 

no they would still line up. my block and head have been machined and at tdc they line up.