Distributor question

[s13EastTN]

Ok, I'm not that new too cars, but I am too nissans for the most part. I looked at my distributor the other day, and noticed that it looked well....improperly timed. IE you know how you can advance or retard your ignition buy turning one of the screws that holds the dist on, and then moving it to the right for advance (guess) and left for retard, well mine looks like it's fully advanced. IE it's all the way to the right.



notice the bolt right below the valve cover? thats all the way to the right on my engine. Now I've been using 91 octane and haven't heard any detonation or anything like that, but I figured thats just because the ecu retards the timing. It sometimes dies or wants to die when i'm driving through a drive through or pulling into a parking lot at low speed, think this could be the cause? would there be ANY reason what-so-ever that this is fully advanced/retarded, and should I move it towards the middle?

[EDIT] I moved the dist to the same position as the pic above and I get detonation. Is that still advanced past stock?

[:: orion ::]

You need to invest in a timing light, they're $50.

More than likely, whoever put your distirbuto back in last time it was pulled put it in 1 tooth off...which is fine, if you can get the base to read at 20 BTDC.

But from your description, it sounds like it's maxed at as low as it can go, and is still too far advanced.

You need to check the timing with a light, and if it's way off...set the motor to TDC in #1, pull the dist, move one tooth, and reinsert.

Start and check timing. Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary - Then wash hands.

- Brian

[s13EastTN]

Thank ya sir, I never even thought of that :p