timing
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jin3000
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:55 pm
- Car: my car, car mutimedia, custom speaker and custom interior design
timing
hi.i need some help,ive got a 97 240sx se with the stock ka motor and auto transmission.i want to check the timing so i got out my timing light hooked it up to my no. 1 wire and pointed the light.what i saw was 5 white marks no numbers and a pointerwhich i assume is marks the point where the timing should be .my question is what mark is the pointer supposed to be at ,what degree do the marks indicate,and do i just turn the distributor till the desired setting is achievedthat is of course if the timing isnt too far off.any help is appreciated.thanks in advance!
hmm you sure you only saw 5 marks? there should have been one marked a little differently to tell you that's 0 degrees. Yes you simply turn the distributor until you get to what your engine is supposed to be. I think it's like what +15 degrees? Check on the underside of your hood for that info. I think you're supposed to have marks for -5 0 5 10 15 20 degrees. I could be wrong though.
if there is no other mark thats a different color like yellow the first mark is 0 the rest are in 5 degree increments. I use and advance timing light when checking timing. just rotate the dial on the timing lite ,unless you blew your money on one of those snap on ones that you get to push buttons on, untill the first mark is on the pointer then look at what the timing light dial,or the digital display on the overpriced one, and determine your timing (whatever you had to advance it to in order to achive top dead center).
Yep, you sure do need a timing light. Before you do all that though, locate your crank pulley and the little pointer thing that will tell you where you are on your timing. It's a bit easier to do that without all the air from your fan blowing into your eyes.
1. Start up your car and make sure it's warm. Put your car in N make sure you're at about 700 rpm for MT and 750 for AT, + or - 50 rpm. You can adjust this through your idle screw. On the SOHC, it's located towards the back of the intake manifold near the bracket that's holding some fuel lines. You can't miss it it's in a hole and is a phillips head.
2. Now that said, loosen the distributor located on the side of your engine, not too much just enough to rotate it around. Hook up your timing light to your battery and the #1 ignition wire, black to -, red to + and if your timing light is like mine (inductive) clip it around the ignition wire.
3. Point the light (should be like a strobe light now) and point it at the crank pulley and the pointer. You should see the hash marks on the pulley as the light strobes and the pulley turns. When it flashes, you'll see the location where the pointer points to. That's your current timing. By turning the distributor, you can advance or retard your timing. For my SOHC, the timing is 15 degrees + or - 2 degrees. That means from the red marking (second mark on the pulley on the right side of the car) on my pulley (could be different on yours if you're running a DOHC), count adjust the timing to the third mark (the marks are 5 degrees each).
4. When you're in that ballpark of 15 degrees, tighten the distributor and if you're paranoid, check the timing again and fine adjust if necessary.
5. Wipe that grin off your face now that you've proper timing and close up (unless you're gonna do more stuff).
that help you out Norgad?
1. Start up your car and make sure it's warm. Put your car in N make sure you're at about 700 rpm for MT and 750 for AT, + or - 50 rpm. You can adjust this through your idle screw. On the SOHC, it's located towards the back of the intake manifold near the bracket that's holding some fuel lines. You can't miss it it's in a hole and is a phillips head.
2. Now that said, loosen the distributor located on the side of your engine, not too much just enough to rotate it around. Hook up your timing light to your battery and the #1 ignition wire, black to -, red to + and if your timing light is like mine (inductive) clip it around the ignition wire.
3. Point the light (should be like a strobe light now) and point it at the crank pulley and the pointer. You should see the hash marks on the pulley as the light strobes and the pulley turns. When it flashes, you'll see the location where the pointer points to. That's your current timing. By turning the distributor, you can advance or retard your timing. For my SOHC, the timing is 15 degrees + or - 2 degrees. That means from the red marking (second mark on the pulley on the right side of the car) on my pulley (could be different on yours if you're running a DOHC), count adjust the timing to the third mark (the marks are 5 degrees each).
4. When you're in that ballpark of 15 degrees, tighten the distributor and if you're paranoid, check the timing again and fine adjust if necessary.
5. Wipe that grin off your face now that you've proper timing and close up (unless you're gonna do more stuff).
that help you out Norgad?
that's okay but for racing what is better? Advanced timing or retard one?The thing I don't get here (i'm visual and I can't see the scene here...) is that when you adust timing, the light will goes on at the exact time that the little marks is align... but how can I advanced or retard my timing just by moving the distributor? Won't i need to get to the pulley first?
You don't need to do anything to the pulley but watch it. The reason you move your distributor is because that's the part that's connected to your ignition wires, which in turn connects to your spark plugs. Your spark plugs then begins the burning of gas. That's it in a nutshell.
Your timing light works by detecting a current change in the wires connected to your plug. Now when the timing light picks that up, it'll flash the light. Thus the timing light. You can also use a strobe light if you want, although it might be kinda hard to point carefully at your pulley. Ha ha ha. That light, when it goes, it will correspond to the timing of your car, granted you're looking at the crank pulley.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine4.htm
Perhaps that will clarify and make things a bit more visual. Now when you rotate your distributor, you don't change the location of the little rotor that spins around. You just rotate around when the wires get the current they're sitting around waiting for. So based upon that picture, the little spinning thing inside the black circle keeps spinning at the same rate, but the location of when the ignition wires meets up with the rotor has been changed.
NOTE: Advancing your timing you will probably need to run higher octane gas otherwise risk knocking and pinging, advance your timing with caution. (to learn more about octanes, there were quite a few good discussions about octane ratings on the forums before. I don't know where exactly they went but use the search function to find out more.)
now with that said, advancing should create more power, granted you're not knocking and pinging your motor to hell. When you hear it, you'll know something's terribly wrong. I wouldn't advance it too far...
Your timing light works by detecting a current change in the wires connected to your plug. Now when the timing light picks that up, it'll flash the light. Thus the timing light. You can also use a strobe light if you want, although it might be kinda hard to point carefully at your pulley. Ha ha ha. That light, when it goes, it will correspond to the timing of your car, granted you're looking at the crank pulley.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine4.htm
Perhaps that will clarify and make things a bit more visual. Now when you rotate your distributor, you don't change the location of the little rotor that spins around. You just rotate around when the wires get the current they're sitting around waiting for. So based upon that picture, the little spinning thing inside the black circle keeps spinning at the same rate, but the location of when the ignition wires meets up with the rotor has been changed.
NOTE: Advancing your timing you will probably need to run higher octane gas otherwise risk knocking and pinging, advance your timing with caution. (to learn more about octanes, there were quite a few good discussions about octane ratings on the forums before. I don't know where exactly they went but use the search function to find out more.)
now with that said, advancing should create more power, granted you're not knocking and pinging your motor to hell. When you hear it, you'll know something's terribly wrong. I wouldn't advance it too far...
the crank pulley is your refrence for your timing . it comes to top dead center(when the #1 piston is fully at the top of its stroke). twice for every spark of the number one cyl. but the light only flashes every other time when the plug fires. the marks on the pulley indicate how far before or after the spark occurs when the cyl reaches top dead center.
ehhh oki... and where's that supposed to be? I didn't recall reading anything like these before
And when I'm thinking about this, I was looking for the lights yesterday on the net but didn't find anything ... Is it a specific light that i must buy or Can I just get a small light from my home and plug directly on the distributor and the battery?
And when I'm thinking about this, I was looking for the lights yesterday on the net but didn't find anything ... Is it a specific light that i must buy or Can I just get a small light from my home and plug directly on the distributor and the battery?