sancho

Are you supposed to set the base timing with the transmission in drive (for an automatic transmission)? I was reading the label on the top right-hand side of my hood, and it says that the base timing is "6 degrees (DR)" for an automatic, and it says "6 degrees (N)" for a manual transmission.

The reason that I ask is because I was trying to set the timing (again) a few minutes ago, so I put the emergency brake on and then put it into gear expecting to set the timing like that. Well, since the timing is off, the idle is usually around ~1100RPM @ operating temperature. So when I put it into gear with the emergency brake on, it just kills the engine. Makes it sorta hard to set the timing like that.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

it should say 6 deg base timing (P) or (N). Anyrate, set it in neutral with the timing connector disconnected (should be a single wire/connector along the firewall in a wire loom above the heater box). Youll have to bypass teh ecm to get hte base timing. I have mine set way off the tab to around 20+ degrees of advance to compensate for my low compression that my engine has. Runs like crap with the timing set to 6 deg of advance

sancho

Okay, so I'm not going to set the timing in drive then.

I was just wondering if I needed to do that because I set the timing to spec last night with the engine in park (same as neutral to the engine), and today it didn't want to start unless I advanced the timing a bit. This is a rebuilt engine, so I'm wondering if the timing should be different than stock (although I rebuilt the engine to be as close to stock as possible)?

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

assuming you disconnected the bypass connector, the timing you set should be the correct base timing. There is the possibility of a slipped harmonic balancer, that would give the incorrect position of tdc on the timing tab. You could always advance it a few degrees but this shouldnt be necessary unless something else is causing a hard start.

ede

the marks aren't 100% accurate so moving it a few degrees wouldn't hurt anything. i rebuilt the engine in my truck last winter and it wouldn't idle where it was suspose to be set, moved it to 8* and it works great. it is aggrivating for it to be where it's suspose to be and not work, but after deciding there was nothing wrong i set it at 8*.