What is up with my timing????

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 14, 2006

I just went and bought a timing light with advance inductive on it from Craftsman today because I was bored and wanted to bump the timing on my 93 notch. Anyways I set it to zero on the gun, hooked the postive to the positve, negative to a ground on the block, and the clamp on the #1 plug wire(front wire on passenger side)..and pulled the spout. The timing marks were all way below the pointer. I moved the clamp to the coil wire and it read 22* HOLY CRAP!!!!....could this be right? I didn't hear any detonation at that reading. What am I doing wrong. That seems like WAY to much timing to be right. Help me out....please!!!!!

bt15 · Nov 14, 2006

First make absolutely certain you're clamping the #1 spark plug wire. I've taken my car in for a smog check in California and the mechanic accidentally hooked up to #3, failed me for having screwed up timing until I pointed out the mistake. Anyway, if you have the SPOUT pulled and are hooked up to the #1 wire, you shouldn't be seeing readings too much out of range, or your car wouldn't be running very well, if at all. Just double check your hookup and try it again.

1991vert · Nov 14, 2006

i have a timing gun and i remember trying to read the timing, but the gun has an adjustable knob at the end and it was turned like 1/2 way from 0 and it was reading all out of whack and then my dad pointed it out. it's like a 20 year old snap-on timing gun. i dunno if yours has any adjustments on it

HISSIN50 · Nov 14, 2006

Is the balancer old?

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 14, 2006

yes my gun has the knob for adjustment on it on the end...i had it set at zero. I was clamped on the number 1 wire...passenger side all the way to the front of the car. I just don't understand why the numbers were reading over to the left past the little circle/ hole to the left of the timing pointer. I pulled the little spout(grey little plug in that looks similar to a fuse in the wiring harness going to the distributor). As far as the balancer it is brand new...they put it on for me at my dealership I work at. The stock one broke the other day....rubber wore out and it fell apart on start up...didn't damage anything and fixed my vibration problem I had been trying to diagnose for a week or two when I had it replaced. Is it possible for it to go on wrong...I mean it only can go on one way...right? I bought it from Advance Auto...just a stock replacement. Going to build a serious dart block 347 this winter to replace it with all the good stuff. Keep the ideas coming!!!!

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 15, 2006

any idea what im doing wrong......22* cant be right?

HISSIN50 · Nov 15, 2006

You can put the motor to TDC to make sure the balancer is indexed correctly (you are right - it is keyed. Assuming no one removed the key, it should not be an issue).

Good luck.

Saleen0679 · Nov 15, 2006

Any chance you can compare your gun with a buddy's gun?

What are you reading on the knob when using the dial back to zero function? Is the reading the same as when the knob is zeroed?

I've only ever known of one gun to go out of whack, but I guess it does happen.

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 15, 2006

i guess ill put on tdc and try again....and i'll compare with a buddy's gun.

Mustang5L5 · Nov 15, 2006

You pulled the SPOUT connector out first right??

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 15, 2006

yeah I pulled the grey plug in spout (looks like a fuse) in the wiring harness that goes to the dizzy..I did this before I even started the car. I drove it today..and i runs great...I use 93 octane. The dizzy is turned so far clockwise that the module wires to the dizzy are almost streched tight but like i said it runs great. Maybe I hold a world record for most timing on a mostly stock 5.0 mustang ever !!! I'll try to get to the bottom of this tomorrow for sure, it was realy rainy today and a severe wind advisory...so I didn't realy mess with it.

Brett88lx · Nov 16, 2006

The other day we went to go set my timing on my new motor. I had ran it the day before WITHOUT checking where it was at. And guess what...it was at 30* with NO pinging. That's just weird...I think. I hope I didn't hurt my new motor. Good luck anyways.

TomCat · Nov 16, 2006

When I bought my car from the previous owner, the timing was at 20* when I checked it, spout out. I dropped it to 14* and never thought of it again. When it was at 20*, it ran just fine.

fidstang · Nov 16, 2006

That's the stock pointer for yeah.
You'll have to find out where your real TDC is and not where the pointer says it is.
Mine showed 22* intial with spout out.
After I found my TDC. It was actually 18* I was running with aluminum heads.

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 16, 2006

so i should turn the motor over by hand(turn the crank bolt with a socket and long bar to spin the motor) and put the #1 piston at TDC...look at where the timing marks line up at on the stock pointer? I'm a little lost on this. I realy didn't think setting the timing could be so frustrating and dificult. Thanks and keep the comments coming.

Black1987Stang · Nov 16, 2006

SSBLUBYYOU said:
so i should turn the motor over by hand(turn the crank bolt with a socket and long bar to spin the motor) and put the #1 piston at TDC...look at where the timing marks line up at on the stock pointer? I'm a little lost on this. I realy didn't think setting the timing could be so frustrating and dificult. Thanks and keep the comments coming.

yeah turn it over by hand and make sure its #1 piston on the COMPRESSION stroke, if u get it on the exhaust stroke its going to be 180 degrees off, so take out the #1 spark plug stick ur finger or a piece of rag in the spark plug hole or something just so once the piston starts going up to the compression stroke it will come out or push ur finger out....once ur on the compression stroke, I use a screwdriver, stick it in the spark plug hole and put it on top of the piston, turn the motor till the screwdriver is going up and up then its going to start coming down, the point where the screwdriver is at its highest point is TDC. Take a look at the balancer and the pointer line Should be at 0 degrees....I think u said u were looking at the hole or something?? wherever the 0 is tho is where u need to put a pointer to, and use that to time the ignition to. Good luck

SSBLUBYYOU · Nov 16, 2006

thank you for helping me out .....I think I can figure it out now....I'm going outside to figure this out and I'll post back with my results later on tonight or tomorrow for sure. Thanks and I hope this works!!!:SNSign:

310stanger · Nov 16, 2006

my car last time i checked was running with 20 degrees initial with a trickflow h/c/i but i set it at like 15 degrees jus cause that much advance scared me and i cant trust the gas at each station i go to. i use 93 and only 93 octane in my car.

TomCat · Nov 16, 2006

Black1987Stang said:
yeah turn it over by hand and make sure its #1 piston on the COMPRESSION stroke, if u get it on the exhaust stroke its going to be 180 degrees off, so take out the #1 spark plug stick ur finger or a piece of rag in the spark plug hole or something just so once the piston starts going up to the compression stroke it will come out or push ur finger out....once ur on the compression stroke, I use a screwdriver, stick it in the spark plug hole and put it on top of the piston, turn the motor till the screwdriver is going up and up then its going to start coming down, the point where the screwdriver is at its highest point is TDC. Take a look at the balancer and the pointer line Should be at 0 degrees....I think u said u were looking at the hole or something?? wherever the 0 is tho is where u need to put a pointer to, and use that to time the ignition to. Good luck

Awesome, I'm gonna do this soon. Thanks.

Black1987Stang · Nov 16, 2006

no problem

What is up with my timing????

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