testing timing w/ coil packs

[Valley]

So, how does one do this? I was told that an inductive timing light will not work with our cars... anyone care to explain?

[Joe]

you need an inductive light

theres 2 days to do it, first the #1 coilpack (front of the engine) the middle white wire i believe, seperate it a bit and clamp the inductuctor around it. second is there is a white wire loop on the back of the coilpack plug harness at the rear of the engine, your supposed to be able to clamp that and get the same result but ive never been able to get a signal from it.

[Audi180]

can't you just connect a spark wire between the coil and the plug and use the timing light the old fashion way?

[DrifterTom]

what? you must have had your swap done for you. you can't do that because there is no spark plug wire. the coil is on top of each plug

[Joe]

what? you must have had your swap done for you. you can't do that because there is no spark plug wire. the coil is on top of each plug

read it closer.

can't you just connect a spark wire between the coil and the plug and use the timing light the old fashion way?

yes you can. altho its alot of extra work for no reason.

[DrifterTom]

ahhh the plug not the spark plug. i apologize. no excuse, but it's been an awful day at the office

[Kansei240sx]

I've been doing it quite a bit recently.... its freakin easy....

If you have an inductive light.... this looks like alot of work, but its really not, it takes about 10 minutes.

Step One : Remove spark plug cover

Step Two : Pull the clip on the first coil pack off

Step Three : Remove the two screws that hold it to the coil pack rail

Step Four : Pull the First coil pack out

Step Five : This step is up to you, but you can use a jumper wire from the coil pack to the spark plug or just a peice of wire thats a good size in gauge and use it to connect it.

Step Six : Connect the sensor for the timing light onto that wire and then put the Power wires for the timing light on the positive battery terminal and on the Ground terminal/chasis ground

Step Seven : Loosen the three Cam angle sensor bolts.

Step Eight Turn on engine

Step Nine : Unplug the TPS sensor and subharness

Step Ten : Aim light at the crank pulley with trigger pulled and adjust the CAS untill you've reached FOURTH MARK on the pulley which is 15 degrees, now you might have to adjust it minus one or plus one degree for idle.

Step Eleven : Turn Off engine once desired timing is set and tighten down the cas and put everything back together, Drive and enjoy.

[NISMO_RB25]

lol

one more step and you could quit smoking, or drinking.

[Bluefire]

I also suggest using an old spark plug wire on the number 1 plug. This actually seems to be the easiest way to check timing on any COP style ignition

Also

Step Nine : Unplug the TPS sensor and subharness

You should not unplug the subharness. Just unplug the tps, set the idle to like 500-600? via the iacv. Then plug the tps back in and then set the timing

-Bluefire

[Kansei240sx]

Owell... i unplugged it for mine, and never had a problem, my car idles and runs fine and it says to do it that way in my FSM.

[bmadd2402]

its not even that hard. if you look on the ignition harness, close to the igniter, you will see a little white wire that looks like it is coming out of the harness. given you haven't butchered your harness too bad. hook the pickup through that loop, and check your timing. if you dont get anything, ensure your pickup latch is all the way closed. you will have to enlarge the loop a bit. just pull. still no signal? flip the pickup upside down. you might have hooked up the pickup wrong or the wire might be mis-oriented. takes about 5m to get the timing, and another 5 to set it. dont even need to remove ANYTHING!!!

[Valley]

:: took me a minute to do it once my cas was loose and timing light hooked up (my plug harness is unwrapped)

thank you all for the replies! a thread with lots of real info.