Hey I just set the ignition timing on my 88 camaro 2.8L I disconected the st and did everything correctly I even got it set to 10 degrees shut the engine off and reconnected the est. I disconnected the battery and then hooked it back up. The car ran great for about 10 minutes. After that the engine temp stated to heat up quickly and the car ran like absolute crap. It had no ***** and the tranny was ahifting hard. I opened the hood this morning and advanced the timing again and it ran a little better. Why is it running like crap when its set to run right?

 

Your balancer might have slipped. Was the timing advanced really far before you set it?

 

Yeah the first time i set it (a few weeks ago) the timing was advanced over 20 degrees. I did the same thing then readvanced a little and kept driving. I knew that it being that high may have been a little too advanced. The guy who owned it before me said the timing needed to be done that he did a tune up and turned the distributer enough so it sounded good. What would cause the balnce to slip?

 

The outer ring is attached to the hub by a rubber ring. The rubber ring dries out after a while(age) and then the outer ring slips around the hub.

The best way to cheak is to pull out the #1 plug and stick a screwdriver down there so you can see when the piston is on the way up as you rotate the crank by hand.

When the screwdriver comes up and then goes back down, you'll have to do your best to get to the center of it where the screwdriver is pushed as far up as it will go.

once it's at TDC(doesn't matter if it's exahust or compression BTW), see if the mark on the balancer lines up with the 0 mark on the pointer. If it doesn't, it's slipped.