I adjusted my timing the other night with a timing light I got from my friend. I was thinking that my car was running roughly, and indeed it was! When I checked, the yellow mark was about 2" to the left of the needle! I adjusted it closer to the pin but was not able to get them to line up by adjusting the crank angle sensor. The red mark was even further to the left of the yellow.

My adjustment did help, as my car runs much more smoothly and can idle lower. roughness is nearly completely gone. I have a few questions:

1. was my timing advanced or retarded before?

2. now when I adjust the idle, i've backed the idle screw nearly all the way out and the idle still is only around 600, which is not high enough. it stumbles now and then at this low idle speed. is there anything I can do about this?

3. after the adjustment, the engine is running much more smoothly but I seem to feel a lack of power. Not a lot, but I'm pretty sure it lost some go. why would that happen?

Next I'm going to get a new fuel pump, plugs, wires, and do an oil change and I'm hoping those things will contribute further to a happy engine, but if anyone can help me with the above questions I would appreciate it.

 

btw, this is the first time I've adjusted timing on any car, so excuse my ignorance in advance!

 

Dude...

Go to team fcs3.com and check out the factory service manuals... you have to time the car on the Leading AND trailing coils....

http://www.teamfc3s.org/main/factory_service_manual/

or

http://www.teamfc3s.org/main/factory...CAL_SYSTEM.pdf

yeller mark is fer lead.... red mark is for trailing

 

yeah, I know! I did it twice... and both were way off. can anyone answer my above questions?

 

Alright heres a couple of things that you could possibly consider.

1. Your car doesn't have enough vaccum I.E. a leak of some kind. check for leaks maybe use a vaccum gauge.
adjusting your time will increase vaccum but you probably had to retard it to do this.

2. if its below the the mark thats btdc (Below Top Dead Center) on a conventional motor I believe that refers to the position of the number one cylinder Not Sure have to check.

 

A handy tip for remembering advanced and retarded with regard to timing:
Think of your spark plugs and which is leading and trailing. that tells you which direction the engine (and pullys) spins so before the stick is....?

It's possible that somebody took your CAS out of the hole and got it one tooth off on replacement. It's easy to mess-up. Look online for the write-up on how to set the timing and CAS. It's somewhere.

Cory

 

Your saying that you can't turn the CAS enough to align the marks with the pin.

That means you need to remove and reinstall the cas because its a tooth off.

Hand align the pulley yellow mark with the pin.

Pull the CAS.

Pull the black cover off the top of the CAS.

Align the bottom gear of the CAS with the fixed tear drop mark on the CAS housing.

Holding that alignment, now look into the top of the cas where you removed the black cover.

See the top two tooth gear? Look at one of the two teeth and see what its just opposite on the fixed part of the CAS. Commit that to memory.

Now stab the CAS into the engine. Notice how the top gear rotates a bit as you install the CAS. Thats normal. Once installed, rotate the body of the CAS until the top tooth aligns with the fixed part of the CAS body that you committed to memory. Tighten the CAS body down.

Now get the timing light out and time the engine. If the CAS body still can't be rotated enough to aling the pin and marks........restab the CAS once again but try to stab in such a manner that when stabbed the CAS will be in the middle of its travel. Comprende?????

Also NEVER time your engine when the rpm is over 1000rpm. Should be as close to 750 as possible.

Vacuum plays no part in the timing.

If the timing marks on the pulley were to the left of the pin (looking aft at the front of the engine) then the timing was ADVANCED.

If the timing marks on the pulley were to the right of the pin....the timing was RETARDED. Again looking aft at the front of the engine.

Idle only 600???? Do the timing right and revisit this issue. Sounds a lot like the BAC in not functioning right. A normal BAC will try its damndest to maintain a 750rpm. With a fully warmed up engine and your car at the 600 rpm you state, pull the BAC plug off and see if the idle speed falls. If there is NO difference in rpm, then the BAC is in need of being taken off and soaked in a good cleaning fluid overnight.....or the BAC circuit to the ECU is kaput. See the Technical Articles on this site for how to tell if a BBAC is good or bad. Look under an article called fixing turboii idle problems. It relates to N/T cars as well when talking about the BAC.

 

And download the FUEL section of the Factory Service Manual that is located on this site. Just the Fuel section is what you need. Read the Fuel section. Then read and understand the Fuel section.

Or go to http://www.iluvmyrx7.com and download the Fuel section of the FSM for your car. The 86-88 covers a series four and the 89 the series five cars.

 

thanks a lot, hailers. I really appreciate your posts!