Retarding Timing

[headstrong]

Which direction do I turn the rotor when retarding timing on the KA24DE motor? I have a timing gun so I just need to adjust it a little. I believe the car is running lean and when motor is at operating temp and only from a stop/takeoff it's blowing out a small puff of white smoke.

James

[InsanityInc]

white smoke means coolant... so timing probably isn't your problem.

But if you have a timing light, just shine it on the crank and it'll be obvious which way retards it when you move the distributor.

[headstrong]

It doesn't happen all the time, only when the car warms up to operating temp. I still think the timing a bit off and I've also noticed no loss of coolant. Maybe its no white smoke but a bluish smoke and sometimes I can smell fuel. I have an OBX header with 2.25" piping from the cat-back. So is timing still and issue?

[InsanityInc]

well, bad timing won't cause any smoke unless it's really, really bad, and you'd definitely notice that bad of timing (your car would shake like crazy, and misfire constantly). Bluish smoke is oil being burned.

Smell around where your injectors go into your manifold, and see if you smell a very strong fuel smell.

[headstrong]

I'll check the injectors but seems like from a cold start it hesitates at idle but when driving for a few minutes it seems fine, only in the afternoon when FL heat is at its worst is when I see smoke. Thanks for the help guys.

[wantsansr]

white smoke is water/coolant or fuel not being burned, blue smoke is oil, black smoke is running rich but still burning all the fuel.

[TheOne]

am gonna answer the timing question:to advance timing you move the distributor to the right, to retard you move to the left(this is lookin at the distributor from the driver side)

[petesleaf]

That puff of white smoke when sitting at a stop sign and then starting out, or just after starting a cold engine, is commonly caused by one or more deteriorated valve guide seals. If your engine has over 120 k valve seals become suspect. Remember there are 16 valve guide seals on a dual overhead cam . Sometimes they can be replaced without removing the head by pressurizing the cylinder you are working on. The pressure will hold the valves closed so you can remove the valve springs.

If your KA is running rich the first thing to change is the oxygen sensor. It sends the signal to the ECU to let it know how much fuel to allow based on the emmissions sensed by the O2 sensor. On The KA the o2sensor needs to be changed every 30k.