Timing dramas

[GT Coupe]

Hello everyone, I've been trying to get my timing right but i'm having some problems, i just got the timing pretty close to 10deg(but i can't seem to get it to 10deg) so purely out of interest i unbridged the T and E1 to see what the timing would change too, but nothing happened the timing is the same bridged or unbridged, now i thought you were meant to set it to 10deg with T & E1 bridged then it would go to around 16deg when you unbridged them so why is mine staying the same? or do i have this wrong? Or is it just that your not meant to do any bridgeing when the car is running?
The check engine light is working so i don't know why it isn't pulling any timing.

Any insight would be of great help
Cheers

[Bean]

strange - have you tried bridging it on the ECU? in case the connection to the check connector is faulty (I'm not sure if this would raise a fault code or not)? also the engine needs to be properly warmed up (idealy by a little drive and no just idling)...

also is your car stock or have you changed anything?

[GT Coupe]

No haven't tried it at the ecu, engine is pretty much stock bluetop with just an intake and exhaust on it.
Can't really drive the the car as it only has the handbrake working at the moment, i just bypassed the cold idle and let in run for a while before i try changing it.

Its funny at the moment the timing is showing about 7deg with T&E bridged, it seems to idle nice but if you give it a rev theres no power there and its real slow to rev

[jondee86]

Retarding the timing makes the engine easier to start

To put the engine in diagnostic mode you have to first satisfy a few
requirements before you short T and E1...

- Engine to be at normal operating temperature
- Idle to be at 850 rpm +/-
- All accessories, lights, A/C etc., to be OFF
- IDL switch on the TPS must be closed
- Battery voltage 11V or more
- Transmission in Neutral (auto)

When you short the diagnostic plug, the idle speed should drop around
100 rpm, and the timing should retard by 5 or 6 deg. If these things do
not happen, you are not in diagnostic mode, and you cannot set the
base timing to 10 deg BTDC. That being the case, set the total timing to
16 deg +/- BTDC and be happy

Cheers... jondee86

[GT Coupe]

I see, i've been starting the eninge with the diagnostic already bridged i'll go play with it some more see if i can't get it right
Cheers mate

[robokill]

are you sure it is dead center?

Things to check!:

- Take out the cylinder one sparkplug. But a screwdriver in the hole and turn the engine in gear until you are sure its at its highest point.

- Remove the top cap of the engine and check if the camgears are aligned to the markers

- Remove the dizzy unit and put realign the markers (make sure you have the right ones it has 2 holes on the outer shaft and one on the housing)

- Put everything back aligned and well

Normally the engine runs a with almost any timing. If you aligned the above its should be easy to use a timing light and adjust it to the correct timing.

[GT Coupe]

Yeah checked everything yesterday, the car starts and runs fine thats not what the problem is, problem is bridgeing the diagnostic seems to have no effect on anything and i can't figure out why, but i'll just do like jondee86 suggests and just set it to 16 without shorting anything