Ok, I remove the EST wire, time my 350. I don't notice much of a difference, if any it seems to get worse power wise.

A few days later it seems to kind of "come to life" running better, and with a lot more power.

Is this the computer relearning the new timing settings, and adjusting for what I did timing wise? If so how the hell do you get any performance out of advancing your timing?

I have done this several times with different amounts of advance with the same type of response. It just seems to take 2 days or so to "wake up" and give any performance gain.

suggestions?

 

You don't advance the timing physically.... you do that by burning chips. When you disconnect the EST wire to set the base timing, it sets a fault code because the EST is not functioning. With the fault code set, it puts you into limp home mode. After you get the base timing set, you have to disconnect the battery power to the ECM to clear the fault code. The fault code will clear itself after about 50 on/offs with the key which would explain while it runs like crap for a few days and then picks up power again when the code clears.

 

Yes, I am trying to adjust the base timing, not the curve. I know the check engine light came on, I didn't know it set and stored a code for limp home mode.

Disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes doesn't seem to clear the codes for me, it takes over night for some reason. Any idea how to dump the ECM memory immediately? Or a bit quicker?

 

Dunno on that one.... only takes mine about a minute to clear the code.