Ignition Timing

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

PBE9699

Member
I'm currently learning to do things under the hood for myself so here goes.

I got a B16A and I want to adjust the ignition timing. I have access to a timing light and everything but I have no idea what I'm looking for when I'm "shooting" at the crank pulley. :(
It'd be great if I could get some help from you guys, pics would be even greater, thanks a lot.
 
It's okay to be a noob, glad to see you are asking questions about the motor, and not about how you mount LED windshield washers or some crap like that. To check the timing, there is a mark on the crank pulley, an etched line that needs to match up to a line that is on the plastic timing belt cover. When you hook up your timing light to the #1 cylinder spark plug (the one farthest away from the tranny, on the drivers' side) and the battery, aim the timing light at the crank pulley. To see the marks better, I used a crayon to highlight both marks. When you set the timing light to however many degrees of advance you want, loosen up the distributor and rotate it slightly until your marks line up, and aren't moving around. Just make sure you tighten up the distributor when you are done, recheck the timing to make sure you didn't bump it when you tightened the dist., and if you're good, then you're good. Hope this helps
 
Hmmm so cylinder #1 is the one furthest from the Tranny...
Damn, a mechanic did it last time but he used the one closest to the distributor which I'm guessing is cylinder 4 :|
What consequences would this have? He said he set my timing to 15 degrees...

As for when I do it myself this weekend, Ok so I want to see the mark on the crank pulley lining up with the mark on the timing belt cover... how do I know how much degrees I've advanced/retarded by?
I'm guessing when they are both in line thats the stock timing?

Thanks for your patience MikeBergy
 
there are 4 marks on the crank pulley.
There is one all by itself (0* (Cyl. 1 TDC))
And there are 3 marks right next to each other
the one closest to the 0 degree mark is 14*
the middle one is 16*
and the one farthest from the TDC mark is 18*
 
^^ Thanks, that helps a great bit.
Another good question then,

I saw the mechanic mess around with the ECU and he jumped the OBD connector (the one you use to check for codes I think). Is there any reason for this and does one need to do it?
 
I never really played around much with the other marks, because I had a timing light with an advance dial on it. I just dialed the amount of advance I needed, and set it. Good to know though, I haven't done much looking underhood of my integra though, no $, oh well good luck bro.
 
he was jumping the service connector, you need to do this in order to set your base timing correctly. what this does is put the ecu into service mode, so when you are adjusting the timing by hand the ecu is not trying to correct it on its own.
this is the connector you want to "jump" use a paper clip and stick each end into its own hole to complete the connection.
here is what the guy looks like
s3fede176d4681.jpg


your check engine light will stay on while it is running like this, this is normal.
 
B16, is that in the same spot for every honda? I have a DA integ, and never could understand what the manual meant by jumping the service connector. That is good info. I am still feeling like a noob.
 
Is the connector in the same place on a 5th gen coupe? Also, do you have to move the ecu to get to it? and is it the same color?
 
On my 5th gen hatch it is behind the glove box. You have to unlatch both sides and there is 2 blue plugs towards the passenger side fender.
 
On my sol, when you peal back the carpet, there is a little rubber holder with 2 plugs that go to nothing, one is 2 wire, the other is more. The one that your worried about is the 2 wire plug. Just some how connect the two pins. (I acutally couldn't find a paper clip so I used a metal twist tie and just striped the paper off)
 
:disgust1: 5 years old...

Obviously.

I only responded for the sake of info. If a link is down in an old thread but the thread has good info, or had good info because of the link, it's worth it to bring it back I say. Be reasonable...
 
Back
Top