2 months ago I checked the timing on my 92 Civic. It was 3 degrees off. There was
no way to adjust it to within 2 degrees to pass smog check. The problem was that
the timing belt was off 1 tooth.

My guess is that your timing is off a tooth. Check the timing belt. It's quite
easy.

Chopface wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I finally coughed up the money and bought a timing light. I am using
> the directions in my Helm manual My timing is significantly off on my
> car which has 130k miles. Looking downward, the 3 marks (made bright
> silver with a ball-point pen) on the crank pulley are above the pointer
> by at least twice the width of the 3 marks. Are there 2 deg. between
> each mark? I am just hoping I didn't jump a tooth on my timing belt.
> I tried loosening the distributor bolts so I could adjust the timing,
> but I couldn't find a good fit with my sockets and wrenches. The bolts
> seem like they are really tourqued on there. My 12mm tools seemed to fit
> the best, but there was significant play when turning the tools back and
> forth lightly against the bolts. Do I have bad tools or is there a
> certain size wrench that I should look for?
>
> Thanks for any help,
>
> Mark