I have been having trouble setting the ignition timing on my 1992 Honda Accord EX. I followed the Haynes manual and jumped the diagnostic wire, pulled the timing check plug, warmed up the car, and pointed my timing light at the flywheel. I might not have warmed the car up enough (I drove it around for a few minutes and let it idle for a few more), but I was only able to see the white TDC mark and it was far away from the tab on the block.

I turned the distributor all of the way towards the front of the car but it was not enough to align the white mark up with the block tab. I set the gun to 15 degrees advance since this was the TDC mark. I could not find a red mark.

Anyway, I was daring and drove the car with the distributor turned all of the way towards me and the engine didn't seem to ping, although it was very sluggish. Do you think that I should return the distributor to where it was before and make sure that the car has been warmed up thoroughly before trying to set the timing again? Could this have caused the timing mark to be off?

Also, do you think that the timing belt might be off a tooth? I know that a timing belt that is off a tooth can cause the ignition timing to be off on my 300zx and I'm thinking that Accords might be the same.

Thanks for the help.

 

A lot of times the mark just gets obscured over time. Turn the crank using the power steering pulley, going counterclockwise, assuming the belt is tight enough, until the white mark shows up and just make another mark manually with something. You should see it.