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.

 

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

 

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)?

 

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.

 

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*.