problem with timing...

[ginglesturbo]

ok i have everything back on my car after the hg swap. its running but not well...its definatly the ignition timing...my timing light doesnt work on my car...is it because i have coil packs and all my other cars were dist. ignition? or is it broke? my wires are origanal from 89 but they seem to wrok good...they all throw good spark. i may have fowled the plugs by trying to set the time by ear...they are pretty black...and im sure they have runnin lean and rich because of me doing the timing.....any suggsestions? common problems with this?

 

[Fozbo]

The timing light still works on cars with coil packs. So it sounds like the timing light is probably bad. Once you get a new one, see if you can get it to run nice by adjusting the CPS. If it is still running crappy, then take off the timing cover and check the belt/cam/crank alignment.

I just went through all of this in the past couple of days; turns out that the timing belt was off a tooth. It would have been a couple hour job all said and done to reset my timing belt, but I accidentally knocked that little metal spacer off of the center stud that the upper timing cover bolts on with and it fell down into the lower cover. Basically had to take the front side of my engine apart to get it out (it was sitting inside the oil pump shaft gear).

 

[ginglesturbo]

ya i realy hope its not off a tooth....i need it to run!!! my timing light isd pretty old...ill get a new one at work tomorow. im gonna go ahead and replace my plugs and wires and set every thing where it is supposed to be in time and then try it out i guess.

 

[jdub]

Make sure you CPS looks like this with the crank pointing at zero and the cam gear index's pointing up at the marks on the gear back plate. (Sure are a lot of timing issues lately)

 

[cuel]

No kidding....

I now know how the cps should look when setting the timing, though Pulling the cover off and setting it as shown in the pic seems pretty easy. More like setting the dist. on an n/a. I have that pic in my link folder. Thanks

 

[jdub]

Yeah, it's a handy pic I stole from here some where a while back

 

[jetjock]

Same theory as a dizzy too which makes it amazing so many can screw it up. That's what happens when people don't bother learning the basics. Perhaps they should cut off the bracket and lengthen the harness so it can be rotated 360 degrees...

 

[ginglesturbo]

im gonna buy a new timing light today and get new plugs and try it out.......i know all the basics i just hate dealing with electrical work and timing...but it will come together soon enough...gotta have patiance i guess

 

[gomezmk]

Thanks for the pic where the CPS is shown without the cap and where the inner wheel that attaches to the camshaft should be located. I was bored and decided to check the CPS and noticed I was off a tooth. I reset it and did the timing and now the car is much more faster then it used to be. Thanks