Timing help

[spock2001us]

I did not know what my timing was set at, so I bought a timing light.....finding the marks on the balancer was almost impossible because my 95GT has 131k on it...finally, I think I made out a 10 and it looked like a 0 was to the left of that one (from underneath the car), so I marked the 10 with some white out. When I put the light to it, boy was I every way off in timing......I bought the car used years ago, when I previously removed the dizzy, I marked and put it back the same, but it was way off....my base timing was prolly at 30degrees.

I set the timing at what looked like a 10 (the mark I made) and my car suddenly sounded totally cool....for the first time my Flows had a real nice bubba, bubba, sound....very cool......so I put the spout back in, closed her up and took her for a drive.....but I had limited acceleration....like something was holding it back....I did not want to blow anything up so I took my car back home, opened up the hood and looked again at the timing marks. After looking again at the marks (which are pretty corroded), I think I may have marked my original timing mark at 0 instead of 10, so I advanced to the next mark, which looked like a 10 (or maybe a 20).....

Anyway....I closed it all back up and took it for a drive and the acceleration was better....but the real nice idle bubba, bubba sound was gone.

When I ran the codes, I also have an oxygen sensor problem, could that be what hurt my acceleration when I set my timing initially?....Have I now advanced base timing to 20degrees, which gives a little better acceleration, but that only masks the oxygen sensor problem?

I plan to stop at an auto repair station and have them mark my balancer at 10 to 14 because I also have a PIP problem and I am putting in a new dizzy tomorrow.

Oh, and after putting the spout in, my advanced timing certainly jumped up, I have no idea how far...maybe 20 degrees or so.....and it bounced around plus or minus about 4 degrees...is that normal?

Thanks

 

[RIO5.0]

When there all rusted up its a mofo to tell whats up...I run Scotch pad or scuff em with sandpaper....

If thats the original balancer it might be tough to tell where your at, as it may have slipped some...pretty common....That could account for the dif in your drives?? Just a thought...Have your guy check the rubber ring in the center real good...

When you throw the spout back in you can expect to see what you did...The computer takes over so to say..

Good luck with it...Keep us posted with the results...

 

[VibrantRedGT]

I'll have to agree and say that the stock rubber seal balancer probably has walked around some in its 12 year life. Advance until you can here the ping. Back it down until its gone and powerfull.

 

[HISSIN50]

Oh, and after putting the spout in, my advanced timing certainly jumped up, I have no idea how far...maybe 20 degrees or so.....and it bounced around plus or minus about 4 degrees...is that normal?

Thanks

This is normal. The timing should jump up about 10* just from installing the SPOUT connector. And the timing can jump around a little (couple degrees) with great frequency.

I agree - make sure the outer ring is not walking due to a weak elastomer. If it did, trying to time the car (using bad reference marks) is like peeing upwind. I would replace the balancer, but if you absolutely cant, time it by ear alone, like Joe mentioned.

Good luck.