i have the timing light, dizzy wrench and timing sticker under the hood. i know the car is supposed to be warm with the ac off. What do i need to disconnect to check the timing. my manual only specifies jumping two connections together on the ALDI OR ALDA connector and i have the location of the connector. what else do i need to do?

 

Here you go. On the passenger side, right behind the spot where the strut hooks up to the body (it's like a black bump) and next to the ac compressor is a small connecter with a black and tan wire (the EST bypass). It's one wire (don't disconnect anything if it's got more than one wire). Disconnect that wire to bypass the computer timing. Now take your wrench and loosen the hold down clamp for the distributor (but don't unscrew it completely, consider this your warning ). I recommend loosening it just a little bit so that the distributor will spin, but not easily. That way it won't bounce out of timing while you're working. Now on your crankshaft pully, there will be little grooves etched in the pulley. There are a couple, so make sure you get the right one (I took off the dist cap and bumped the engine until the rotor button was pointing to the the pole for the #1 spark plug, and then looked for the etch on the pulley). If it hasn't already been marked by a shop previously, you'll need to get a piece of chalk or a bit of white paint and mark the etch. Now hook up your timing light to the number one spark plug and turn the engine on. Point the light at the pulley, the light will pulse in time with #1 spark plug and illuminate your marked etch. There should be a small gauge (small metal piece with little teeth) next to the pulley with numbers on it, those are degrees BTDC. With the engine running, see where the etch lines up with respect to the little gauge. If it's where your sticker says (should be 10* for either transmission), then you are good. If not, go back to your distributor and turn it slightly clockwise or counter clockwise. Use your timing light and see what changes it made. You might have to try a couple of times to figure out which way the distributor turns to adjust the timing back and forth, but it's pretty easy. Once you get it right, bolt down your distributor and check your timing again. If it's still right, hook the EST wire back, and you'll be all set.

 

thanks alot ! i set the timing today! first time i used my timing light!