When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The timing can be out 180 degrees, and the car will still run, albeit poorly. Like Diabolical1 says, rotate the motor by hand until the yellow mark appears. If the paint is gone, it's the first mark that appears when rotating clockwise.
Take out the CAS. Put it on a table and remove the two JIS screws that hold the cap on. When you look at the bottom drive gear, there is a little divot on the gear that should align with the pointer cast into the body above it. Line it up.
Look inside the top of the CAS and note which tooth is pointing at the pickup. As you reinstall the CAS, it will want to rotate a little. This is normal. Just make sure that you are keeping an eye so you can line it back up. If it moves a few degrees on install, just rotate it so that the correct tooth is pointed at the pickup. Don't put any paint on the tooth or anything - the sensor is very picky. You'll need to remember by eye which is the right one. Or take a photo.
Once the CAS is in, remember to put the cap back on and also the lock nut (finger tight). The timing needs to be set with a light once the car is warm, but this should be within a few degrees of the correct spot already so you can move on to other diagnosis.
How long have you been able to keep it running? Personally I wouldn't worry about smoke coming off of the exhaust unless it started to glow (especially since the car has been sitting a long time), but I would have someone stand nearby watching it carefully. Keep an extinguisher around until you're sure there isn't a problem.
I would try keeping it running for awhile to see how it behaves. If it idles once it's warm, you know it's part of the cold-start system that is causing the issue.
Also, replying here instead of your other thread so it's all in one place.
It's idling without the MAF? Normally these cars won't idle at all without the MAF in place (nor does the fuel pump even run), but it's hard to argue with results.
I had the car running for quite a while. Engine almost reached full temp. The idle is a bit rough (little bouncing). Maf is unplugged. I believe I set up cas correctly. When do I adjust timing with light? Do I have to fix anything else first? Going to try check again for vac leaks near intake
Ok so went out to start again, just cause I can 😀. Before I did that I checked the tps and adjusted because engine is warm. Started and idled same similar as before. I sprayed carb cleaner over entire engine and found no change in idle (no obvious leaks).. decided to plug maf back in and idle adjusted and smoothed out a bit, still little bounce but seemed a bit better. Here’s the difference. Since I plugged maf back in I can no longer rev engine.. I touch that gas pedal and she immediately dies. So my next plan of attack is adjust timing? Using timing gun?
Interesting. So you can rev it without the MAF plugged in, but when plugged in it just dies on you? Back when I had the stock ECU, mine would flat out not run without the MAF plugged in (even with the check-connector jumpered). A vacuum-leak would make sense in that case, so I would try the carb cleaner trick again with the MAF plugged in and see what happens.
Replacing the O2 is never a bad idea, but the ECU only uses it in 5th gear, low-load. It won't improve the idle.
Timing won't make that big a difference, but it's good to set it now because every little bit helps. With the car all the way warmed up and idling under 1000rpm, use a small piece of wire to jumper across the initial-set connector. This is the two pin green connector near the leading coils, one black wire and one orange (IIRC). I also like to unplug the BAC when doing this to be 100% sure the ECU won't try and raise the idle.
Then use a timing light (either leading spark plug wire) and shine it on the pulley. You should see the yellow mark align with the pointer. If not, rotate the CAS as necessary to make it align. Then tighten the lock nut, remove the jumper, and plug the BAC back in. Then you're good to go.
Thanks for the reply I’m going to look into your post in detail. What I’ve learned tonight….. 100% have exhaust leak at intake manifold etc. exhaust smoke coming up from o2 sensor area. Took the Bac off and it is fully functional. Cleaned lubed and tested. When running if I unplug the bay idle changes etc. so I’m ruling that out.
Starting car with maf plugged in start stall instantly, unplugged maf…. Car starts and holds idle but bouncy so I run over and plug maf in and idle smoothed out. Ran the car for half our. I can rev it to about 3000 past that she chokes and stalls.
I sprayed everywhere and everything I can see with choke cleaner. If it’s a vacuum leak it has to be the intake gasket. Might pull her apart and replace the gasket with a liquid grey one.
Hit a small hiccup this morning. I just got in the parts to replace o2 sensor and replace manifold gasket (when car was started I saw exhaust and maybe even sparks coming for the o2 sensor area) was hard to pin down where exhaust was leaking so I thought I would remove exhaust manifold to check for cracks. There were no cracks but 1 manifold bolt was backed out a bit (not sure that where the leak was coming from) nothing else stood out. Anyway, heat shields were in rough shape so i removed them, should I do something to shield heat? Wish I didnt have to pass safety because I was really tempted to put a header on instead! So heres the issue, when i put air valve back on I used form a gasket. Stuff never dried after checking this morning. So tonight I think I have to remove it and use another type of gasket maker.
Interesting. So you can rev it without the MAF plugged in, but when plugged in it just dies on you? Back when I had the stock ECU, mine would flat out not run without the MAF plugged in (even with the check-connector jumpered). A vacuum-leak would make sense in that case, so I would try the carb cleaner trick again with the MAF plugged in and see what happens.
Replacing the O2 is never a bad idea, but the ECU only uses it in 5th gear, low-load. It won't improve the idle.
Timing won't make that big a difference, but it's good to set it now because every little bit helps. With the car all the way warmed up and idling under 1000rpm, use a small piece of wire to jumper across the initial-set connector. This is the two pin green connector near the leading coils, one black wire and one orange (IIRC). I also like to unplug the BAC when doing this to be 100% sure the ECU won't try and raise the idle.
Then use a timing light (either leading spark plug wire) and shine it on the pulley. You should see the yellow mark align with the pointer. If not, rotate the CAS as necessary to make it align. Then tighten the lock nut, remove the jumper, and plug the BAC back in. Then you're good to go.
Hit a small hiccup this morning. I just got in the parts to replace o2 sensor and replace manifold gasket (when car was started I saw exhaust and maybe even sparks coming for the o2 sensor area) was hard to pin down where exhaust was leaking so I thought I would remove exhaust manifold to check for cracks. There were no cracks but 1 manifold bolt was backed out a bit (not sure that where the leak was coming from) nothing else stood out. Anyway, heat shields were in rough shape so i removed them, should I do something to shield heat? Wish I didnt have to pass safety because I was really tempted to put a header on instead! So heres the issue, when i put air valve back on I used form a gasket. Stuff never dried after checking this morning. So tonight I think I have to remove it and use another type of gasket maker.
You can run without the heat shields for now, but you definitely do want some in there. Especially come summer. I just bought a sheet of aluminum from TSC (or whatever they're called now) and bent it in a sheet metal brake. Then drilled holes for the hardware and bolted it on.
I don't think having a header fails safety. At least, I don't think most shops would care. I have no pre-cats and they didn't care about it, they were just concerned that the main catalyst was present. Taking a look at the requirements: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...S&opi=89978449
Unless the shop interprets headers as the manifold being "missing", but that would be a bit of a stretch. You could even ask a shop in advance and see what they say.
Originally Posted by wopa20
Timing light 0 advance? This is a first for me
How do you mean? If you're asking how to use a digital timing light that shows you the advance, I don't know how. I've only ever used the old style.
Basically, the ECU is using the crank-angle sensor to try and tell the current position of the engine (hence "crank angle"). At idle, the leading spark plugs are supposed to fire at 5 ATDC, or -5 BTDC. This means that after top-dead-center of the front rotor, it waits 5 degrees of rotation before firing. 5 ATDC is marked on the pulley with the yellow mark.
The problem is that if the crank angle sensor is not aligned, the ECU is "seeing" TDC before / after it actually appears, and firing the plugs at the wrong time. No good. So what you're doing with the timing light on the leading coil wire (either one, they fire at the same time) is seeing the light flash when that plug is firing. When you point it at the pulley, the strobing of the light should sync up with crank speed and it looks as if the mark is stationary. Then you rotate the CAS to align the mark with the pointer. This makes the ignition timing that the ECU is commanding agree with the actual position of the crank.
The paint mark on the pulley often wears away, so if there are no marks just feel for the two indentations. The first one (as rotated clockwise) that meets the pointer is the 5 ATDC mark.
Ok thanks I think I’ve got the timing set. Set the gun at 0 advance. Car still runs poorly…. But! I started getting angry and unplugging things. Bingo bingo she runs, after I unplug tps sensor. Idle bounces but runs pretty good. So I am going to revisit tps adjustment
Ok ok last post tonight. So here we go… tos plugged in start and stall. Unplugged tps and boom it in’s but fluctuating.. did tps adjustment 100 times and it’s just not working out.
went unconventional…. Plugged tps in and screwed in tight. No go. Unscrewed all the way. Yup she likes that. Started to tightened up tps a bit while idling, got in car and reved motor. Starting to show some power. Vroom vroom some more and bang blew alternator belt… lol enough for tonight
Wow, finally found the exhaust leak. Down pipe of first catalytic converter huge crack almost in half. Can believe I didnt see this before. Put my order in to racing beat for down pipe and presilencer. Brings back memories as I had this setup before. Can this huge exhaust leak be messing with the O2 sensor?
I got the racing beat exhaust parts in and installed. No more gas leak thank god.
Still really struggling to get this thing going.
here’s what I did:
1) pulled plugs and spun motor a few times to expel any excess fuel. With ego fuse out.
2) set tps all the way out.
3) unplugged maf
4) started car and each time turned tps a half.
5) after a few rounds car started and ran pretty good. without the maf. Stalled if hit the gas tho.
6) thought this was a good time to check for pressure. (Boost sensor, pipe from upper intake, pipe from fuel pressure regulator) all had vacuum while running)
7) tried to return maf car stalled… gave up trying to restart.
Got into eco area, dosnt appear any damage etc… going to leave this area open to test ecru later…I did open back speaker towers and found the mice made nests in there and chewed most of the wires there including the fuel pump wires. Ended up fixing those wires. Now I’m behind driver seat under carpet and found more chewed wires (green). Going to repair these next. Rear seats also make good mice nests.
here’s a question. That banjo bolt that I used to replace pulsation dampener have anything to do with this? Fuel pressure in the tube feels really high. Absolutely no return pressure…. Could I have blocked this by accident? How can I test this?
You have no return flow off the rail? Are you checking this while the car is running, or at the least you're jumpering the fuel pump with the wire or through holding the AFM flap open. This means that either the fuel pump isn't pumping enough pressure or the fuel pressure regulator has failed. Its unlikely clogged, but it's also a possibility.
11-15-23, 08:35 PM
