Anyone near Bracknell?

[Beddo88]

Hi all,

Just a quick query if anyones around near Bracknell that could give me a hand with timing? The timing light i have appears to be a touch sketchy (working intermittently) and i cant seem to even get close to finding the TDC mark i put on the flywheel. This made me rather annoyed, so to calm down i er gave up.

Cant really tell if its running any better or worse than before, it was never running great to begin with! Is there anyone local that could help? (I can drive it there?!)

Dan

[DT1]

The timing light i have appears to be a touch sketchy (working intermittently)...

It's a strobe light, it's supposed to work intermittently...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Nate]

what do you class as local? i'm just the other side of swindon

[Beddo88]

Well, was thinking of something a bit more local than that, half hour drive sort of thing.

So, failing no locals, can anyone describe pinking? I have a rough idea of what it sounds like but its just that. rough.

There are many examples of what it sounds like on the internet, but no before/after versions so theres no baseline to compare the engine sounds to :(

[Nate]

it's a sort of metallicy tink-tink-tink-tink that varies with engine speed and usually gets worse with load

[GTXTRA]

book it into the Phirm for a once over - they're only down the A30 from Hartley Wintney and it's barely half an hour away.

[ianaudia4]

Get in touch with Lenny125 (Glenn) on here, cracking mechanic and down the road from you.

[bluestreak56]

Get in touch with Lenny125 (Glenn) on here, cracking mechanic and down the road from you.

Seconded!! Glenn works on both my cars (Scirocco and BMW 635Csi) and my mums Hyundai. Wouldnt let anyone else touch them! Cant recommend him enough.

[Beddo88]

Phirm looks pretty good, not sure i can afford it atm though.

Having just checked the timing light i've been using, it works fine on both a civic and an old spitfire. So... not entirely sure what that means? Could it be a weak spark from the coil? How would i check that?

I'm not sure what else could cause it?

[Nate]

are the dizzy cap and arm in good condition? (i don't just mean are they new-ish, take them off and look) same with plugs and leads

then you're going to be looking possible coil, ignition amp thingy etc

[Beddo88]

Should be but i'll check them in a min. Just attemtped to check the coil using haynes method. Which is probably the least useful description in the book, all i can tell is that the secondary system or whatever it is works fine (is in the right resistance range).

I'll go and check the rest of the system i guess.. tend to forget the simple stuff!

[Nate]

assuming that all checks out ok try this:

turn the engine so it is at TDC with #1 firing. take the dizzy cap off and see where the rotor arm is in relation to the notch on the body of the dizzy. it should be more or less lined up with it.

pic of the notch on a mk1. mk2 will be similar (clicky for big pic)



i would go about seting the ignition timing as follows:

1st, check that the engine timing is correct (all timing marks on the timing belt line up correctly) you're going to be fighting a loosing battle to get it running right if that is out!

mark the current position of the dizzy with some paint or a few scratches. if you end up making a complete arse of it, you can set it back to exactly where it was and start again.

slacken the pinch bolt and rotate the dizzy body until the arm lines up with the notch. take it for a brisk drive. assuming it isn't pinking, slacken off the pinch bolt and rotate the dizzy slightly to advance the timing. take for a brisk drive. repeat until it starts to pink under load, then retard it ever so slightly to stop the pinking.

i only use timing lights to check the advance/retard mechanism is working

[Beddo88]

Oh magnificent!

Few slight notches/scratches on the dizzy cap, so should probably get hold of a new one! On a side note, the arm does line up (sort of) should the line be central to the arm as currently it sits just before it, ie the notch lines up with the start of the arm as it turns. I guess that'd be resolved by rotating it?

[Nate]

would be sensible to replace the arm at the same time as the cap - they're not expensive.

so long as the arm is roughly lined up with the notch it should run. this just gets you a ball park position for the timing to start from. mark the dizzy then advance the timing little by little until it pinks

[Beddo88]

So.. having applied some common sense to the problem, i've realised that some idiot *ahem..* may have put the dizzy cap on the wrong way wrong last time. (I dont know how either!) So, having now swapped it, correcting the leads, the engines running much more smoothly. With that the timing light works properly again, so have set it up roughly using that and the crank pulley, as i'm not confident on detecting pinking!

Nate, you're a legend, once again my saviour lol