Anyways here is a little history about my 89 Civic si.

Bought it with 285,000 miles.. now has 325k miles. Has same timing belt and waterpump. Never changed it..

So today the car failed smog (CA). 2 years ago the car barely passed. Today, we tried to adjust the timing on car..it didn't even come close to spec. We jumped the wire, but still the timing wasn't even close..
even-though we advanced or retarded..didn't come in Spec.

So I was wondering has anyone had a timing belt jump without motor smacking the pistons...like timing jumped without even driver noticing.. I have noticed since 2 years ago..the car pops and backfires and jerks once a while. So when I start the car it will Pop Pop Pop..during idle. When I first bought the car it never did that.. I am thinking the timing belt has jumped..since we cannot even bring the Ign timing within specs and car failed smog really bad.

Besides that car runs fine..now it has been like this for the past 4 years..never really cared, till today when the timing couldn't even get within spec. I am going take off the valve cover and check it..hopefully that gets me passing smog..I have a NEW CAT and O2 sensor..motor runs pretty dam good. No loss of power or compression. Just timing cannot be adjusted..

 

I've had it done like that before, off by a tooth. It's enough to change emissions but it still ran relatively normal. If you couldn't time it with the timing gun, it's pretty safe to say your mechanical timing is off (belt jumped). It's the only way you wouldn't be able to set distributor timing. The only other thing I can think of is that you're not using the timing correctly.

 

Been there....couldnt adjust timing correctly also. My buddy, Honda-tech, noticed the issue. Just had to adjust the belt, retension and retime.

 

cool yes..looks like the problem. Will start working on it today..

thanks

 

looks like the belt is off..

I guess I will just change the belt..had oem belt still looks good though..

 

Hmm timing was OK. It was the aftermarket dizzy. Stupid aftermarket parts never buy aftermarket electronics like dizzy. Now car is timing fine. Just need to fix exhaust leak somewhere. Crap!!