RWD 4AGE Timing issues.

[Rallystanza]

Gday.

My Gf has just purchased a very nice AE86 Sprinter with seemingly a RWD version of the 4AGE installed already.

Today I sucessfully replaced the O-ring seal on the dizzy into the head.

Upon replacing it I checked the timing and shorted the terminal for checking your timing and adjusted the timing to 10 deg BTDC, this being the factory spec when the terminal is shorted. The workshop manual then goes on to explain in order to check the timing further, remove the test wire from the terminal and the timing should change to above 16deg BTDC.

Now, when i removed this short, the timing did not change, therefore i assumed that i cant short the wires and decided to short nothing and just set the timing at 16 dg BTDC.

Is this ok/correct??

Thanks guys,

Jeremy

[Steve-AE86]

that's fine.

as long as it doesn't ping, you'll be right...

there was some race car dude in the 80's that once said, "advance the timing until it pings, then back it off a little"

works for me

[takai]

Yeah, a lot of people have gotten a lot of different results when shorting and unshorting those pins. Some people get a massive drop in timing or in revs, while others dont have any change at all.
Should be fine though, a bit extra timing doesnt hurt so long as its not pinging. Remember a lot of Japanese designed cars run rich by default.

[c2888]

Depends on what the sensors are telling it too, so if you set it cold, it'll only be right at cold.
Going by ear isn't a bad way to set it, 4ages have a fair bit of tolerence for advance. If you really wanna set it at 10 deg, find the ecu diag and short it at the ecu, bypassing any ugly wiring.


If it still has oil leaks, theres another seal inside the dizzy, between the shaft and body. If it still leaks after that, well you're on your own

[roadsailing]

jezz, mine did a similar thing, i shorted it first to set it, then un-shorted it, then shorted it and some of the times it didnt seem to do anything. seems OK, so if it doesn't ping it should be OK. As for setting timing, i'm more a fan of doing it on the dyno.

you probably know this trick, but to check for detonation (when the engine is warmed up already) accelerate from second gear, then change into fifth at about 2-3000 RPM and floor it, this loads up the engine and makes the detonations come out of hiding.

I was going to set my timing more advanced, but it pinged on me on a hot day once, so i left it where it was.

[mc68]

that's fine.

as long as it doesn't ping, you'll be right...

there was some race car dude in the 80's that once said, "advance the timing until it pings, then back it off a little"

works for me

LOL, thats how i got the most out of my aging tx3

[phrostbyte]

I had a big mess-around getting mine timed...

The best way to do it, as someone said earlier is to short the pins at the ECU.

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Short pin T (Middle of the top row, remember that you are looking at the back of the ECU, not the plugs, Pin 6 on the 18pin plug) to ground. The pin in 95% of cases is in the same location on all different 4AG ecus. Keep in mind that if you short it while the car is running it won't go into diagnostics mode until the next restart and if you un-short it while the car is running it won't come out of diagnostics mode until the next restart.

Make sure you get your engine up to standard running temperature first, that's imperative as it will adjust the accuracy of the timing you set, then turn it off, then short the pins. Start it up (it should idle a bit more rough than usual, and when revved it should misfire and hit the rev limiter around 4000RPM due to diagnostics mode disabling the igniter module). Check your timing, adjust it to 10 degrees before TDC. Turn off the car, un-short the pins and start it up. Check timing again and you should see it somewhere between 16 degrees and 25 BTDC depending on what you have your idle RPM set at.

Once you have that set, you can play with some advances and check for pinging until you are happy with it.


Hope this helps Jez,
Kev.

[Rallystanza]

Hey Kev,

Thanks for that mate, great reply.

Now i just need to find where they have put the ECU in this thing!

Thanks guys.

Jeremy