Honda Car Forum

Can anyone help? I'm tearing, what little is left of my hair, out at
the moment.

When adjusting my ignition timing by moving the distributor I am unable
to line the crankshaft casing mark with the center 16degree timing mark
on the pully. The distributor is rotated as far as it wil go towards
the firewall. Its still a few degrees off.

I have checked the cam belt timing a number of times now looking in
case the belt has slipped by a tooth but it looks spot on. I have even
tried adjusting cams back one tooth but the car would not start.

Currently with the distributor as far towards the firewall as it will
go, the car will idle fine but when driving the car has little power.
It gets noticeably worse when the car is warm.

Is there anything else that could cause the ignition timing to be so
far out? Any sensor that could cause the ECU to advance \ retard the
timing?

Any help is appreciated.
Graeme.

fish wrote:
>
> Can anyone help? I'm tearing, what little is left of my hair, out at
> the moment.
>
> When adjusting my ignition timing by moving the distributor I am unable
> to line the crankshaft casing mark with the center 16degree timing mark
> on the pully. The distributor is rotated as far as it wil go towards
> the firewall. Its still a few degrees off.
>
> I have checked the cam belt timing a number of times now looking in
> case the belt has slipped by a tooth but it looks spot on. I have even
> tried adjusting cams back one tooth but the car would not start.
>
> Currently with the distributor as far towards the firewall as it will
> go, the car will idle fine but when driving the car has little power.
> It gets noticeably worse when the car is warm.
>
> Is there anything else that could cause the ignition timing to be so
> far out? Any sensor that could cause the ECU to advance \ retard the
> timing?
>
> Any help is appreciated.
> Graeme.
-----------------------------------

What YEAR is the vehicle, and did you put the JUMPER on while setting
the timing?

'Curly'

Its a 1992 1.6 Vti
Yep, I jumpered the connector near the ECU. Didn't seem to make any
difference.

'Curly Q. Links' wrote:

> fish wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone help? I'm tearing, what little is left of my hair, out at
> > the moment.
> >
> > When adjusting my ignition timing by moving the distributor I am unable
> > to line the crankshaft casing mark with the center 16degree timing mark
> > on the pully. The distributor is rotated as far as it wil go towards
> > the firewall. Its still a few degrees off.
> >
> > I have checked the cam belt timing a number of times now looking in
> > case the belt has slipped by a tooth but it looks spot on. I have even
> > tried adjusting cams back one tooth but the car would not start.
> >
> > Currently with the distributor as far towards the firewall as it will
> > go, the car will idle fine but when driving the car has little power.
> > It gets noticeably worse when the car is warm.
> >
> > Is there anything else that could cause the ignition timing to be so
> > far out? Any sensor that could cause the ECU to advance \ retard the
> > timing?
> >
> > Any help is appreciated.
> > Graeme.
> -----------------------------------
>
> What YEAR is the vehicle, and did you put the JUMPER on while setting
> the timing?
>
> 'Curly'

"fish" <gawinter_2000@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:1155157874.963324.270060@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com:
>
> 'Curly Q. Links' wrote:
>

>> >
>> > Currently with the distributor as far towards the firewall as it
>> > will go, the car will idle fine but when driving the car has little
>> > power. It gets noticeably worse when the car is warm.
>> >
>> > Is there anything else that could cause the ignition timing to be
>> > so far out? Any sensor that could cause the ECU to advance \ retard
>> > the timing?
>> >
>>
>> What YEAR is the vehicle, and did you put the JUMPER on while setting
>> the timing?
>>
>
> Its a 1992 1.6 Vti
> Yep, I jumpered the connector near the ECU. Didn't seem to make any
> difference.



Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.



--
TeGGeR®

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

TeGGeR® wrote:

>
>
> Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.

Could be.. The only other thing I could think of is maybe a
sheared dist gear pin, or something like that. But being I haven't
looked at the base of one of those distributors, I couldn't say
if they use one. I had this happen on my ford truck one time
though. The pin sheared off at the base, and the dist would
"wander" and gradually shift in direction until it got to the point
that I ran out of room to turn it. Yanked it out, and saw the
gone pin. They had those at the autoparts, and I was back
off to the races. Seems to me, if the timing marks look
perfectly spot on, it should be pretty close, but I've seen
weirder things happen..
MK

nm5k@wt.net wrote in
news:1155199444.253717.15100@b28g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com:

>
> TeGGeR® wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.
>
> Could be.. The only other thing I could think of is maybe a
> sheared dist gear pin, or something like that. But being I haven't
> looked at the base of one of those distributors, I couldn't say
> if they use one. I had this happen on my ford truck one time
> though. The pin sheared off at the base, and the dist would
> "wander" and gradually shift in direction until it got to the point
> that I ran out of room to turn it. Yanked it out, and saw the
> gone pin. They had those at the autoparts, and I was back
> off to the races. Seems to me, if the timing marks look
> perfectly spot on, it should be pretty close, but I've seen
> weirder things happen..
> MK
>
>


This isn't one of those situations.

--
TeGGeR®

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

nm5k@wt.net wrote:
> TeGGeR� wrote:
>
>>
>> Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.
>
> Could be.. The only other thing I could think of is maybe a
> sheared dist gear pin, or something like that.

highly unlikely - it has no load. only way something like that can
happen is if the retainer ring somehow disappears...

> But being I haven't
> looked at the base of one of those distributors, I couldn't say
> if they use one. I had this happen on my ford truck one time
> though. The pin sheared off at the base, and the dist would
> "wander" and gradually shift in direction until it got to the point
> that I ran out of room to turn it. Yanked it out, and saw the
> gone pin. They had those at the autoparts, and I was back
> off to the races. Seems to me, if the timing marks look
> perfectly spot on, it should be pretty close, but I've seen
> weirder things happen..
> MK
>

check the belt timing. you have all the classic symptoms.

Its actually got a brand new distributor on it.
The car had a misfire so I ordered an ignition module and a coil but
got sent a whole distributor. Result!
Missfire was solved, but the timing issue is the same with both dizzys.

I too was convinced all the symptoms pointed towards the timing belt,
but I have checked it numerous times.

Everything seems to line up the arrows on the cams point upwards, the
center lines line up, and the TDC mark ( white on by itself) lines up
with the mark on the plastic casing.

I'm no professional, so I'm going to have take it to a garage to have
them check the cambelt.

I was expecting something not to line up. At least by a few degrees.



jim beam wrote:
> nm5k@wt.net wrote:
> > TeGGeR? wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.
> >
> > Could be.. The only other thing I could think of is maybe a
> > sheared dist gear pin, or something like that.
>
> highly unlikely - it has no load. only way something like that can
> happen is if the retainer ring somehow disappears...
>
> > But being I haven't
> > looked at the base of one of those distributors, I couldn't say
> > if they use one. I had this happen on my ford truck one time
> > though. The pin sheared off at the base, and the dist would
> > "wander" and gradually shift in direction until it got to the point
> > that I ran out of room to turn it. Yanked it out, and saw the
> > gone pin. They had those at the autoparts, and I was back
> > off to the races. Seems to me, if the timing marks look
> > perfectly spot on, it should be pretty close, but I've seen
> > weirder things happen..
> > MK
> >
>
> check the belt timing. you have all the classic symptoms.

jim beam wrote:
> nm5k@wt.net wrote:
> > TeGGeR? wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.
> >
> > Could be.. The only other thing I could think of is maybe a
> > sheared dist gear pin, or something like that.
>
> highly unlikely - it has no load. only way something like that can
> happen is if the retainer ring somehow disappears...

OK, like I say, I haven't looked at one. "honda" Just wanted to
mention it
in case it did have some type of lock, pin, or whatever for a gear or
drive..
MK

nm5k@wt.net wrote in
news:1155293103.474121.70900@i3g2000cwc.googlegrou ps.com:

>
> jim beam wrote:
>> nm5k@wt.net wrote:
>> > TeGGeR? wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Then your timing belt is off, even if it looks like it's not.
>> >
>> > Could be.. The only other thing I could think of is maybe a
>> > sheared dist gear pin, or something like that.
>>
>> highly unlikely - it has no load. only way something like that can
>> happen is if the retainer ring somehow disappears...
>
> OK, like I say, I haven't looked at one. "honda" Just wanted to
> mention it
> in case it did have some type of lock, pin, or whatever for a gear or
> drive..
> MK
>
>


The distributor drive shaft keys to the camshaft with a slotted arrangement
that looks a bit like a large flat-blade screwdriver. It would take quite
an event to shear that.

The slot and key are offset from the axial center, so the distributor can
only go on one way. The timing belt, however, can very easily be off by one
tooth.

--
TeGGeR®

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/