So, is it ? Sunday night my Rex started giving me the Low Coolant light/buzzer, and was running very weak. So I go for a check-up Monday morning (gotta be careful with the Rex ), and it turns out that: coolant loss was due to a very small leak from a hose behind the engine , and that my timing was WAAAAYYYYY advanced.

Thing is, the timing was set just 1500km ago during my last tune-up. And in only 1500km it "slipped" almost 15 degrees ? What gives ? Is this possible ? Or should I be looking at something right now trying to get it fixed ?

Anyone ?

 

check your cruise! mine was advanceing itself on the trottle choke wire, while it was not working for me in the meantime. if your cruise was not working before, try to check the cruise control canister's wire pulling on the throttle wire.

 

Cruise control is working (although I only had just ONE frigging chance to check it out). Timing advancing by itself due to cruise control Hmmm, let me write it down.... I'll tell my mechanic about it next time....

 

What the hell are you on about?!

Ace, maybe the CAS retaining bolts were not tightened properly the last time it was set. This is the only way the base timing can be altered, so it's gotta be suspect #1.

 

Yeah, but isnt CAS electronic and self-adjusting ? How can it slip that bad ? It must be completely loose and freely rotating

 

The base or static timing is set by adjusting the physical position of the CAS just like you used to do with a distributor. You loosen the bolt and turn the housing to line up the timing marks (using a timing light). If the bolt wasn't tight, engine vibration might have moved it a bit, it doesn't need to move much.

 

OK I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. Mazda guy told me to bring Rex back in 15-20 days to check the timing again, and if it is out of whack again, what might have caused this...

 

If the timing was set the first time by someone who did not use the initial set connector then the timing will be off just about like what you described.