Distributor not advancing?

[red94fiveo]

I think a possible cause of my car's problems, see other thread, is that my distributor may not be advancing. Is the distributor on our cars mechanical or electrical advance? (I didn't think it was vacuum advance). ALso, what are some ways to check if the distributor is or is not in fact advancing. Thanks.

BTW- My problem is that when I step on the gas more than just a very little bit, my car just doesn't go anywhere. I probably takes my a block or two to get up to 30 mph. Everything sounds fine, it doesn't sound like I have a miss or anything, just don't go anywhere. Thanks.

 

[GTJake]

Was the dizzy fine before?

Jake

 

[red94fiveo]

Yup, it was working OK before I did the H/C/I. The reason I think it may be the problem is after describing my porblem, this has been the solution that several people have come up with.

 

[Rootus]

The distributor doesn't control timing advance. You can check to see if the EEC has control of the timing by hooking up a timing light while the car is idling -- with the spout connector in, the timing should jump around noticably.

Dave

 

[shogun]

could it be possible to have the distributor installed 180 degrees off and the car still run? this might explain some of your problems.

 

[red94fiveo]

I double checked when I put the distributor back on and its not 180* off. Would the car even run if this was the case?

I don't really know what people are referring to when they are talking about the sistributor advacning (as you can probably tell). Would someone like to shed some more light no this. I got the impression this was seperate from advancing timing.

 

[GTJake]

The timing is all controlled by the computer. Older distributors have different ways of advancing the timing without a computer (like vaccum advance or mechanical advance). Have you just tried running the codes to see what you come up with.

Jake

 

[red94fiveo]

No, I guess I should do this. The wierd thing is that I don't even get a CE light.

 

[Rootus]

No, I guess I should do this. The wierd thing is that I don't even get a CE light.

Not all codes will throw a MIL, so you should definitely check. All it takes is a paperclip if you're feeling cheap...

Dave

 

[red94fiveo]

Yes, I am in my senior year of college so I am always feeling cheap! Please explain the paperclip method.

 

[madams74]

Sounds like you are running the pickup sensor off the notch. You can pull up the distributor and rotate the rotor back a groove or ahead a groove. If you get the piston to TDC, and you know this by the Harmonic Balancer, you can pretty much see the rotor will be somewhat close to the #1 post on the cap. Use this as a reference point for moving the rotor. You have to oick the distributor up and then once you clear the drive gear of the cam, spin in in a favorable direction. I could have swore mine was perfect on the rebuild but I was one notch off on getting the pickup sensor to fire correctly. You really need a timing light.

 

[Rootus]

Anyone else ever notice that the "one tooth off" theory just won't die?

 

[madams74]

Look, I have been under the hood of cars for 16 years. I dont understand your views on the "one tooth off". The drive gear from the cam rotates the distributor shaft, which contains a locked in positional rotor and metal notched ring. The ring passes though the hall effect sensor which makes and breaks the signal to the module. The rotor travels around telling each cylinder when to fire. If the shaft is off in relationship to the #1 plug wire and the sensor is supposed to be in its correct position, you have a misfiring. The spark will not fire at the right interval in relationship to the wire and the position of the cylinder. In other words #1 just fired off (electrically) but the piston was in the wrong spot (mechanically) The plastic spacer, and cap are notched so that they lock in at a position based in the casted tabs on the distributor. You have no choice but to have the rotor in a predestined position underneath the cap. If the rotor is off the firing is off. What would happen if you took YOUR distributor and pulled the thing up and moved the rotor 180 degrees the opposite direction? It would not run, and if it did even fire you would know something is seriously wrong. The reason you move your distributor is to align the spark from the cap to its sweet spot from the mechanically correct piston position. You can advance or retard based on the notches from the metal that passes through the hall effect switch. I understand that you can in theory place the distributor in backwards and face the harness to the rear, but you still have to have the rotor in the right spot. Yes you can even have it off a notch if your piston is relativly close to the 0 deg mark and even squeeze the distributor to its far corners and pull off 10degs (lots of stress on the wiring though). To make a long story short, the shaft is what is off, not the distributor itself. Is this better?

 

[madams74]

A

 

[Rootus]

As long as you're not suggesting that there is such a thing as "one tooth off" between the distributor and cam gear, I have no problem. It just sounded like that's what you were suggesting. As long as you can twist the distributor housing enough to set correct base timing, you're golden.

Dave

 

[shogun]

red94fiveo heres what people are talking about when they say the distributor is advancing the timing. you set the base timing on your car but the computer advances it, wide open throttle is something like 34*(don't quote me on this). older cars used vaccum or wieghts in the distributor(mechanical) to advance the timing our cars use a computer. thats why you have to pull the spout connector on our cars,it does away with the computer signal. hope this helped you and not confused you.

 

[red94fiveo]

red94fiveo heres what people are talking about when they say the distributor is advancing the timing. you set the base timing on your car but the computer advances it, wide open throttle is something like 34*(don't quote me on this). older cars used vaccum or wieghts in the distributor(mechanical) to advance the timing our cars use a computer. thats why you have to pull the spout connector on our cars,it does away with the computer signal. hope this helped you and not confused you.

Thanks for the explanation, this is what I was referring to. My base timing is set @ 13*and I did this with a light. As far as the distributor not advancing, this was something my dad suggested, he wasn't sure if it was electronically controlled or not (He hasn't worked on cars for about 25 years, the Mustang is kinda a revival for him, so he's not always up to date on some of the newer stuff). It was just an idea to explore on what may be f***ing my car up. Thanks for the help.