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Need help setting ignition timing

Discussion in 'Subaru Sambar' started by Rural, Oct 29, 2008.

  1. Rural

    Rural Member

    I've been playing with my ignition timing, mostly just by trial-and-error. A timing light may be waiting for me when I arrive home tonight. So I'll be able to set the ignition timing properly.

    With that in mind, I pulled off the engine access panel at lunch with our mechanic standing by. After poking around and scratching our beards a bit, we found a little wheel with a white mark on it that looks promising. But I tend to second guess myself about everything. What am I looking for?

    Everybody talks about degrees of advance. Degrees from what?

    And which is the first cylinder?

    Yes. I am new to this kind of stuff. I'll try to snap some pictures with a digital camera so we can all stare at the same thing.
     
  2. Mighty Milt

    Mighty Milt Active Member

    on your bell housing you should have a small hole or covered hole. when you look inside there with your timing light running you should be able to see a mark on the flywheel while the timing light flickers. try to do it in the shade and it will be much easier. there should also be little "tick marks" on the bell housing. one should be labeled with a "0" and then you'll see some sort of graduation after that.

    if you have 6* of advance, that means your ignition is firing the spark 6* BTDC (before top dead center or zero). it's like trying to shoot a moving target. you have to lead it, or aim ahead of it, to hit it. same goes for ignition timing.

    and i don't know which is your #1 cylinder, but you have a 50/50 shot if you try the ends of the motor ;) i'm sure it's not the middle ones
     
  3. Rural

    Rural Member

    Here's some pictures. The "full view" is from the driver's side of the truck bed. The "detail view" is from the front and down, looking at the driver's side of the engine.

    It looks like the index marks are visible on the bottom left of the detail view, right next to the yellow text on the belt. TDC isn't visible in the picture, but I found it. It looks like I'll have to remove some plastic guards between the engine and the rear driver's-side wheel. With them out of the way, I'll have a clear view of things.

    I'll take some more pictures as I do this. Should be fun.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Oct 29, 2008
  4. Mighty Milt

    Mighty Milt Active Member

    ok, so yours is on the harmonic balancer. look around the balancer for a straight line that is engraved in there. it's best to get some soapstone or something and get it in the groove first to make it more visible when the engine is running.
     
  5. swampfox

    swampfox Member

    timing KS4 truck carbureted, no air conditioning

    I don't know about a bell housing, but on the Subaru truck, you adjust the timing through the drop-down rear engine cover. You connect the timing light to number one cylinder (cylinder on the right while looking at the engine from the rear). On the belt pulley below the alternator--look at the inside of the pulley next to that plastic cover which is over the timing belt. On the left side of the pulley (looking from the rear), you'll see 4 horizontal marks. On the other side of the pulley there is one mark. Set the timing on the side with the 4 marks. You'll set the timing to 6 degrees before top dead center at 800 rpm. there is a fixed timing mark on the timing belt plastic cover next to the pulley. On the pulley, the mark which corresponds to 6 degrees BTDC is the second from the bottom mark. The bottom mark is TDC, third mark is 10 degrees, and the fourth mark is 14 degrees BTDC. Anyway, good luck and make sure your points are set properly at 0.45-0.55mm for mitsubishi or 0.4-0.5mm for denso.
     
  6. Rural

    Rural Member

    Thanks Swampfox and Milt. As luck would have it, my wife found some really good deals on a timing light/gun and a steering wheel puller today. Since, I spent most of the evening dealing with my combination switch (successfully), I'll only have time to play with the timing gun tonight, but that's it. Will have to wait until Friday or Saturday to get the ignition timing set right.
     
  7. Rural

    Rural Member

    Well that was easy. Set up to test out the timing gun and, as soon as I got it figured out (not that long), decided I might as well get 'er done. Swampfox's notes made this pretty easy to do. Second notch from the bottom at 800 rpm.

    I may have been at a bit more than 800 rpm (no tachometer to check with), but with the vacuum advance disconnected, it shouldn't matter. Correct? The setting didn't seem to budge whether I was at idle or fast idle. But connecting the vacuum advance made a difference when I gave it a bit of throttle. So I must have vacuum.

    Took it out for a run and all seemed well. Tops out at about 100 km/h on the highway. Could probably do better without the lights on. ;) I'm still hearing something that makes me think of ping, but it may just be the battery cover rattling around. In any case, I'm pretty sure that the ignition timing has been found not guilty.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2008
  8. Timetripper

    Timetripper Moderator

    Picture

    Here is a picture I found of the timing mark for anyone else looking to set timing.
    Just follow above sugestions
     

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  9. Smabarwala

    Smabarwala New Member

    The body side timing cover marks are a standard procedure on all older vehicles and most of the mechanics follow them.

    There are marks on oil pump pulley and the crank shaft pulley, when coincide with the timing belt inner cover (body side metallic cover) engine starts and function normal. But the marks (0 | |) on outer pulley (described in above image) don't match with these inner marks. Any ideas?
     
  10. Relmo

    Relmo New Member

    Thank you from far in the future lol!
     
  11. udidwht

    udidwht Member

    Someone may have had that pulley off and when replacing it did not orient it correctly.
     
  12. rkrenicki

    rkrenicki Active Member

    The pulley is keyed. You are also replying a 9 year old comment on a 15 year old thread..
     
  13. udidwht

    udidwht Member

    On the EFI models do they have a connector that needs to be disconnected prior to checking or setting the timing given the advance is ECU controlled?
     
  14. rkrenicki

    rkrenicki Active Member

    Yes, the green and black test mode connectors under/behind the fusebox need to be connected to lock the engine timing.
     

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