Pardon me if this is a re-post, i was rather unsuccessful in searching the archives...

So my car has been doing a few wierd things (specifically being hard to start, requiring 6-12 pumps on the gas, and occasionally diesling, and occasionally has spark-knock.) So i decided to check the timing. It was wicked wicked advanced. So i brought it back to neutral, where it should be. Well, the engine ran a lot smoother @ idle, and sounded much better too.

Took her for a spin around the block, i lost like half of my pick-up by retarding the timing that much... On the highway, 5th gear lost all of its acceleration, and i lost litterally 35 MPH on the top end. And one of the several times i shut the car off it diseled for like 10 seconds, worse than it has for a while.

It was getting late so i just put her to bed and decided to screw with it the next day (today)

So i go out, and it took the regular 6-12 pumps to start, OK fine, didn't fix that problem. I put it in gear, go 5 feet and she stalls on me... I felt it comming so i put the clutch in some and gave it more gas, no effect. SO i try to start it again... nothing. Tried 8 or 9 times to start it... nothing. So I walked to the places i had to do my errands at... (luckily they were all close by) and returned to see if she'd start now... nothing.

So i advanced the timing again, at first just a little.. it sputtered a little (more than it did before) and died.... Advanced more, and started rough, then picked up and ran.

That's when i discovered that my father's timing light is busted, so i'm not sure exactly where it is now, but i don't think it is as advanced as it was before (i used a buddy's light when i checked it the first time)


Other issues that occured when the timing was set where it's "supposed" to be... The car was very rumbly, in both sound, feel, and acceleration. It would occasionally stumble as if it was still cold, but it was a toasty 160 degrees. Also, throttle-responsiveness was wayy down... when double-clutch downshifting, it usually requires just a tap of the gas to get her up to 4 grand, i had to hold my foot on to get her up that high.

So my question is, is this normal???? Do you think i may have a bad timing chain? What's the best way to check for a bad timing chain? Any other thoughts would be great.

Thanks

 

HA!, what do you think? NO ITS NOT NORMAL

Interesting question...

You could pull a valve cover, then turn your crank (socket & wrench) and watch your pushrods, find one thats currently on a lobe on its way up or down, and stop in the middle, then slowly turn the crank and if it takes a while to move the crank before the lifter responds, you could have a bad chain. I dont know if there's a more "correct" way, but this would be one way of finding play.

 

make sure you had the computer control disconnected from the dist. BEFORE you try to adjust the timing, to do so :

unplug the 4 wire connector from the harness to the dist. this will alow you to set the base timing without the computer adjusting while your trying to do it, when finished reconnect the harness and restart the car.

on most of our cars the base timing is 0* before T.D.C., some people like to set it at about 6* but check and see what your car calls for, should be on a tag on the underside of the hood.

 

Why would you unplug the 4 wire connector?


The advance is just one wire with a split on the firewall specifically for setting timing.

 

What year car and engine? Also, it it carb, TPI or TBI?

 

That's how it's done on the CCC 3rdgens

 

ACK

ccc

forgot about that gm mistake

jk

 

1985 LG4, Carbed. trans am. 5-speed

 

Following that logic; couldn't you just pull the distributor cap off and watch the rotor turn with a wrench on the crank? (trying to find the easiest and most effective way to check this... others?)

 

Yup you certainly could do that too