i was messing with my timing without a light just by ear and i guess i went to far because my engine light came on is this normal if i was out to far on the timing?

You were setting the timing by ear?.
Please don't.

Yes, you can get the timing so screwed up, the engine will be so lean or think it's lean, that it sets a code 44. And you might get into some ESC codes, etc..

Set the timing to what the Emissions Sticker says it should be.
If you want to fo more then that, then you need to get into chip burning.

well i got it set at 10 and it runs good now no more playing with it thanks.

I thought the base timing was to be set to 6 degrees BTDC, and
then the ECM via the eprom dials in the advance. What I would
like to know is how does one disable the advance so the timing
can be verified it's set to 6?