when I was rebuilding my sr I took my new cam sprockets and made a mark on them exactly where my old ones set so the cams would be in the same exact position. Now wen I'm tuning it the car runs like crap when it is set at 15degrees. When I move the cas to arround 23 degrees the car loves it. Also when it is at 15 the plugs come out all fouled. When its at 23 they come out perfect. the ceramic is starting to get a nice brownish color to it. I have no idea what would be doing this.

lol....i was having the same problem......where are you hooking up your time light........let me guess the black loop near the firewall? you have to get a sparkplug wire and put it between the coilpack and the plug........then hok your light onto that...........when my timing was at 15 degrees and i took a reading from that black loop it said my timing was way advanced(about 45 degrrees) but when i hooked onto the plug wire between coil pack and plug i got 15 degres which is what its supposed to be at....when i set my timing using the black loop my car ran like a piece of s h i t..........hope this helps

right on I'll try checking with the plug wire method tomorrow and repost what I come up with. It just dosen't makes sense that they would even install that loop in the harness if it wasn't accurate. Whatever...They did some crazy **** in that harness that I don't agree with...I don't know if you have ever taken the factory tape off near the computer but man...I just don't get how they think.

K i checked it today using the spark plug wire method and the timing loop and they both gave me the same reading. About 23 degrees advanced at idle....Not sure what this means.

whats your car idle at?

I cant really tell because my ecu for some reasone does not want my tach to work any more but it is idleing a little higher than it should be. Probably arround 12-1300 rpm....I was just thinking about that if I droped down the idle a little it migh be a little closer to 15 degrees.

did the car run good before you did the rebuild, or did you do the rebulid first without knowing how the car ran previously?

If it did run good before the rebuild, try double checking over all your timing, TDC, marks are correctly lined up on the CAS when its installed.

My motor liked staying advanced and hated being around 15, this was because my ECU was programmed for a Z32 and some different injectors, it was to late and my motor blew up

Your ldle has to be below 1000rpm to set the timing right..Thats your problem right there.

to be exact...850 rpm with tps unplugged

do you have the s14 sr20?

I have a s13 sr. It ran good before the rebuild except for the low compression and oil burning. My ecu is programed for 555cc injectors and a z32 mafs but I am running a z32 mafs wth 600cc injectors. I'm going to try hooking up my buddies aftermaket tach today for the mean while untill I can get a new ecu or figure out what is wrong with mine.

IM BRING THIS THREAD BACK FROM THE DEAD!
(either that or a make a new one,so deal with ittt scrubs =])

anyway, YES i am having the same problem.

I am using the loop on the back of the engine, and , when rotating the CAS it enables me to go across the full range of settings, so the loop or atleast my loop has to be somewhat accurate.

Now, my engine idles perfect, 100%.
Its when I hit boost when the car driving the problem occurs.
The boost builds like normal (set at 9 psi), but its as if the "boost" is being held back. The engine actually accelerates slower at 9psi compared to if i just accelerated with 30% throttle.

BUT, when the timing is advanced to around 23, 24 and up the boost fully kicks in.
but at 15, its all gone to hell.

the question is why?!!?!

any1 figures this out. ill paypal ur a$$ $5 =]

venom369 wrote:IM BRING THIS THREAD BACK FROM THE DEAD!
(either that or a make a new one,so deal with ittt scrubs =])

anyway, YES i am having the same problem.

I am using the loop on the back of the engine, and , when rotating the CAS it enables me to go across the full range of settings, so the loop or atleast my loop has to be somewhat accurate.

Now, my engine idles perfect, 100%.
Its when I hit boost when the car driving the problem occurs.
The boost builds like normal (set at 9 psi), but its as if the "boost" is being held back. The engine actually accelerates slower at 9psi compared to if i just accelerated with 30% throttle.

BUT, when the timing is advanced to around 23, 24 and up the boost fully kicks in.
but at 15, its all gone to hell.

the question is why?!!?!

any1 figures this out. ill paypal ur a$$ $5 =]

Size turbo? Fuel pressure? Fuel pump? Injectors? Tuning software?

Stock t25 turbo. 225 fuel pump, stock injectors, and stock ecu.

TPS is set to .40 v

When the timing is advanced (to the right of all the white marks) and the engine is under boost, it boosts great and pulls perfect; all the power is there.
BUT when idling it will misfire and pop once every 10 seconds or so.

On the other hand.

When the timing is set correctly, (second mark form the right)the car idles perfect. No misfires, No popping
BUT once It hits even 1psi of boost or more the car actually accelerates slower then when not boosting. I hear the turbo spooling air into the engine and the boost gauge reads 9 psi, but there is absolutely zero increase in power.


What could cause this?

bumpp

any ideas

Ford Courier Running s14 Blacktop SR20DET,
Sorry to bring this thread up again, but did anyone ever find out what was causing their car to run like crap at 15 degrees? iv'e got my timing on 15 but it runs better when i slightly advance it, I am running 98 Octane iv'e heard people need their timing advanced if they are running higher octane fuel is this true? cheers

Ill try to end this thread for good.

Shooting your timing should be used only as a spot check.

***This is because base idle and base timing are proportional.* PLEASE READ THIS A FEW TIMES *


If you have bigger cams, injectors,even bolt on stuff they could effect your base idle. Which effects your base timing.

So if you don't have any idea what the timing is set at on an engine. Shoot it. See what it might be at. If it happens to idle at near FSM base line idle speed then its a "good" indication of where it is.

Beyond spot checking. Just scribe a mark where it runs. Then bump it advanced and retarded till it runs best on the butt dyno. If you want some safety bump it retarded just a hair when you find the sweet spot. This safety margin is to compensate for say piss poor gas, a minor boost spike, or a marginal engine cooling system.

Normally I start retarded on purpose and slowly advance until you feel it stop pulling up top. It will feel as if the wastgate opened or you hit a "wall".

If it has too much advance even if its running perfect. I have seen some engines prone to running hot in this case or fans kicking on more often and overall temps. staying higher than normal. In that case again a bit of retard is best.


After all that timing tweaking idle concerns can be solved purely on giving the engine just the right amount of air at base idle. Obviously if you have say a vacuum leak then its getting more air at idle and is why your idle would be high.

This method works well for me on older efi cars across the board.

Thanks,
rob

Hey venom I tried to pm you. But I'm having the exact issue as you stated. Was there a fix ever found? I tried to search everywhere