Engine problems! PLEASE help!

[Miguel - Newera]

If the bottom timing gear on the crankshaft moves on the woodruff key, it will also cause the ignition to be out.

The previous owner of one of my ex AE86's changed the timing belt and left the bolt loose... I had a lot of pinking & couldn't understand why until I found this fault...

To be sure your car's timing belt is set correctly, move the crank pulley to 0 Degrees on the plastic marker and check if cylinder no 1 is a TDC.

An easy check to do... Maybe worth it, if you still find the car's pinking after switching the injectors around.

Your Firing order should be 1,3,4,2

Miguel

[dreja]

You should short circuit the 2 pins at service connector I think. You should check the manual to be shure...

Andrej

[NoHachi]

Sometimes the location of the correct terminal to short is also printed on the inside of the hood..Would be a good place to check.

Loose crankwheel could also be a problem. I thought this was more of a miata specific problem. They had a bad batch of cranks where the metal around the woodruf key would start to wear away. Loose bolt could also be a cause.

[Ivan141]

Just to recap all the ideas from the past few posts:

-check timing belt and pulleys!
I would start out by just checking that all the marks are in the right spot at TDC (you should have all the marks lined up and be able to see the dimple in the camshaft through the oil filler hole).

-Check static timing
You need to short the service connector on zenki ae86's (small yellow round plug dangling from the firewall) before setting the timing. Otherwise the ECU keeps correcting it, making proper adjustment impossible.
On kouki ae86's you need to short the appropriate pins in the diagnosis box (little black box on firewall).

If you did this all correctly and cant get the timing to 10 degrees BTDC then it's likely that you distributor is installed incorrectly. If you manage to get it right and it still pings, then take off the crank pulley for inspection.
The one I took off my current ae92 engine was worn out so it is very much possible for this to happen.

[Apolan]

okay tnx peepz! ill try this things today and report..

just one thing.. whats a woodruff key? is that the "crack" on the cranck pulley?

[JonT]

I had a similar problem after putting my engine back in, but it was a bit more a lack of power than just pinging. The 4AGE is very sensitive to timing issues. I had set mine to 10 btdc and everytime i looked at it with a timing light it was showing that. What i hadn't done was short the service connector, once i realised my mistake and reset it all with it shorted the car was running fine. If you look at the timing now it can be over 20 btdc but the ecu has it under control.

The bottom timing pully is attached to the crankshaft by a bolt, but there is a woodruff key to stop it rotating. A previous car lost all power, it felt like a timing issue but i could never sort it out. Later on after an ebgine swap i find that the crank had worn a groove and was able to rotate on the key thus messing up the timing. I would say that this is a pretty uncommon problem, make sure you have the timing set correctly with the service connector shorted first.

[Apolan]

hi, me again.. so ive corrected the timing to 10 btdc, after de-shorting the connector it was 16 btdc. perfect. the news is the car pings more than ever!!!! it pings from the idle up.. im so depressed. more and more i think it is not a timing issue.. i have a feeling it has to do something with the bottom end..

now what do i do. i spent all my moneyyyy on building her.. and she dont even run..

[Apolan]

btw a mechanic said this was not detonation sound...

[Ivan141]

Hmm...that's not very nice to hear...couldnt your mechanic give you an educated guess of what it might be? Tried pinpointing the source of the noise (you can get a more precise direction by listening trough a tube).
How much oil fumes are being blown through the crankcase ventilation tube? How high is your oil pressure?

[Apolan]

i dont know exactly where the pinging sound is comming from; but it seems most likely its comming from the bottom. possibly from the crank-rod bearings. or maybe from the upper piston pin.. the sound seems preety much like mechanical-banging. its just very confusing why this sound depends on ignition timing. acording to that it moves up or down the rpm range.. when my timing was off there was no pinging in idle or up to some 3500 rpm.. now when i set it correctly it can be heard just above idle (1200) and up.. (getting stronger and stronger as the rpms increase.

the no 1 spark plug is no longer black (i guess it was black just because that oil problem in roundabout, burning oil - blackening the plug). now all pčugs are equally whiteish.. what could that mean?

how do i check oil pressure? and what is that gauge on the dash for? oil pressure or oil level? it is constantly on LOW - but when i check the level on that stick it is all the way up!