Atheist

I was adjusting the timing on my car becuase I was throwing a CEL due to missfiring and knocking, my manual told me to ground out one of the plugs by connecting the 2 wires. I was curious as to what this does, becuase with that plugged in I did not throw a CEL while waiting for the car to warm up (its still quite cold here). The timing changing conciderably from when ti was cold to when it was warm (as expected) and went from firing before TDC to after TDC.

The reason I ask is that we adjusted the timing when it was warmed up so that it was cherry. We took out the paperclip grounding the 2 wires in the clip, and started it right up. No CEL, or anything.

Later that night (about 5hrs) I started it up, I dont remeber if it was cold or not, but it fired up with no CEL or anything and ran great. Then today I got home and started it up again, CEL! The CEL blinks for a while and then comes on solid (or come sons olid instnatly if you give it gas). As it idles, it eventually starts blinking again and finally comes on solid again, and so forth. I did a test to see what it was and so i let itr warm all the way up and turned it off. I reset the ecu, started it back up, and let it idle. No cel! I came back about an hour later, started it up, CEL! What gives?

Anyway, can I just leave the plug grounded? Its the one you usually ground to check the code.

suspendedHatch

The ECU adjusts the ignition timing according to the input it recieves from the engine sensors, so you have to jumper it while adjusting the base distributer timing to prevent this. I was told that the ECU if not put into diagnostic mode, will actually back off the timing as you advance it until you max out its adjustment. Then when you go rev your RPMs way up, ping city.

It is common for CELs to come and go or to take a while to return after resetting the ECU. Well, they're always there until the problem is solved, but the indicator doesn't always show them consistently.

No, don't leave it jumpered. Find the problem and fix it. Which CEL is it throwing? You know that you're supposed to retrieve the actual code?

EE_Chris

If your CEL is blinking at you while your driving, you've got a misfire happening.

You jump the service connector so that the ECU does not add advance while your setting the base timing.

Where is your timing set at right now?

Atheist

Its retarded ALL of the way. I had the codes checked before, missfiring in cyls 1, 2, 3 and knock sensor and random missfiring and somethiogn else (didnt remeber code when i got home to check it). I checked the timing, the cam gear is pointing straight up and the crank dampener TDC dot is also straight up, so it seems good...

what else could I try?

warchild69

ok .... so your timing mark is inline with the pointers and the marks on the cam gear is set correct...???? and the rotor buton is pointing towards the #1 plug wire right?????...... the only thing i can think of is the TDC sensor inside the distubitor...... i have had 2 go bad..... mine usually will not run at all and will just die.... never tried to adjust the timing after it happens..... but i would check that.... i keep an extra dist. in my car because i travel a lot and my dist sux.... good luck

Atheist

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by warchild69 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok .... so your timing mark is inline with the pointers and the marks on the cam gear is set correct...???? and the rotor buton is pointing towards the #1 plug wire right?????...... the only thing i can think of is the TDC sensor inside the distubitor...... i have had 2 go bad..... mine usually will not run at all and will just die.... never tried to adjust the timing after it happens..... but i would check that.... i keep an extra dist. in my car because i travel a lot and my dist sux.... good luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

Havent had time to work on it at all, so didnt check the dizzy. However, someone told me bad grounds could make it missfire. True?