Can someone explain Ignition Timing and how it reads from the front and rear coils?
 

So I took my car to my RX7 specialist today and had him check out the ignition timing. Turns out I pretty much handled the idle intake fine (without me having any proper equipment) and that the car was good. He then said that the reason why I probably failed smog was because the smoggers read off of the front coil (spark plug wire) instead of the rear. He then plugged in a censor to the front, showed me how the red and yellow marks were flying all over the place. Then he plugged the censor on the rear and showed me how the marks stayed perfectlly still.

I then head to whatever smog shop I have a freebie test with still. They deny me the free test and say I gotta come back before 12pm (cuz theyre asses) and I start to talk to the smog guy there. I told him I was at my mechanics shop and what he said about the rear and forward coils reading the timing differently and the smog dude said "No. Theyre both the same". I asked him "To make me feel better, could you read off of the rear coil?" and he said "Whatever the instructions say under the hood is all I can do"


-Now what Im asking of someone enlightened here is to explain to me the difference between the readings off the front and rear coils and why it happens that way so I can tell this dude to smog test off the rear spark plug wire for a proper smog result. And what can I say if he denies me reading it off the rear?

just what is this guy reading ..if it's ignition timing ..when you have the timing light on leading the yellow mark lines up to the mark..if not adjust the crank angle sensor ..until it does line up do the same to the trailing..red mark to line up ..basic...manual ..i did my timing and found that sometimes it would not pulse the light..induction coil couldn't read the wire good enough..i would even bother to go back to that smoggerFugger!..he's usin his head for a hat rack..find someone who knows 7's ..i wouldn't give this guy my lawnmower to e-test!..sorry man

So what can I tell this smogger guy if he gives me trouble about them both being the same?

tell him he lost soem buisness and go to the shop across the street (or closest convient location)

Let me be a bit more clearer

He already has my $$ and I failed my first test because of this mistake. I dont want to shell out more cash just to go somewhere else with the possibility of this all happening again.

Now, as I dont know exactly why theres a difference if you put the censor on the front coil compared to the rear, I dont know how to argue the point that there is a difference at all.


Someone please tell me in mechanical terms what I can say to this guy to make him realize there is a difference in whether or not you put the censor on the rear coil so I can just get this over with and never have to deal with him, or smogging, again.

Thanks

Tell him that the front and rear coils fire different plugs at different locations within the chamber, are timed differently, and that the front coil is a waste spark setup, and timing/RPM should be checked based on the T1 plug.

-=Russ=-

Cool, thanks.


When I was arguing with this guy, he was giving me a sermon that was way above my knowledge, but was saying something that the rear had soemthing to do with "16" and that they both fired off the same.

Any of that make sense for any other type of car that he could have been talking about?

lol .. What in idiot. Timing is taken from the rear coil, not the front. I am sure we could go into semantics about this, but the Rear coils fire independently.

You're stuck in the proverbial rock and a hard place.
I would walk away from the money you gave them, cause I can't deal with IDIOTS.
I would rather lose the money and deal with a competent shop that deal with idiots just cause I already gave them my money.
Sometimes you just need to just chalk it up to "lessons in life"...

And yes, the leadings fire twice as much as the trailings.
Leadings = twice every RPM, or 4-cylinder mode
Trailings = once every RPM, or V8 mode


-Ted