Hey guys. O.K. so I have a timing problem. I have replaced all the ignition items. Voltage Reg. Coil, Cap & Rotor, wires, plugs are still good. I just had it set back up to top dead center checked the rotor, and plug wire order. All is good. What happened is that it started misfiring, as I drove it. It got worse and worse. The more I drive the worse it gets. I turn the motor off, and start it back up again and it is even more out of timing. Yes the distributor is tightened down tight. Is it possible my distributor shaft is toast? The car completely quit starting until I got the #1 piston back to TDC, and then rechecked the firing order and set the wires two positions over on the cap, timing had actually moved. Only thing I did before this problem is race the car at the track, and had a friend change the timing from 20 degrees, down to 10 degrees. That is when it all started. plus the friend changed some vacuum lines. My problems started after that. The car ran perfect for 5 years at 20 degrees advance with never a problem. Raced it alot before with no problems. No the timing chain is not bouncing aroung in the cover. I can not hear any timing chain noise. Help!
The only way I can see it move is the chain or the dist gear. Why did you post this in the new mmbers forum? Shoulda went to tech.
Check your harmonic balancer ... the rubber can separate and then the timing marks can move away from where they should be. High rpms at the track can push an iffy balancer into a bad one. The other thing that comes to mind is that the gear on the distributor might be worn/missing a tooth. By any chance you are running a roller cam 5.0 motor with an early distributor?
Had that happen on a sbc in a circle track car. We thought we had it timed correctly to begin with but peaking out at 6400 rpms at the end of the straightaways, the engine finally blew. it turned out that the outer ring on the balancer, containing the timing marks, had spun.
this would not cause the timming to slip/change once set. "It got worse and worse. The more I drive the worse it gets. I turn the motor off, and start it back up again and it is even more out of timing.The car completely quit starting until I got the #1 piston back to TDC, and then rechecked the firing order and set the wires two positions over on the cap, timing had actually moved." ...JMO...
Agree Our problem, with the stock car, was that we set a bogus timing to begin with. Our balancer had already spun prior to setting that initial timing.
First off... Sorry about this being in the wrong category. You are right Gene, this has no business being in the new members category. My mistake. Sorry. Secondly..Thanks for your input guys, I am thinking that it must be a worn gear on the distributor. I will look into the balancer issue also. It will be a while till I can get a chance to take a look. I am in So-Cal right now, taking a vacation from those kinds of problems back home. Mickey mouse says "Hello" I will keep you all informed when I get back. I will have to start pulling things apart now. Fun... ... NOT!!
Ryan, sounds to me like the distributor gear has moved (sheared pin), if timing chain had slipped your valves would be out of sync and setting it back to tdc and moving spark plug wires it would still run crappy. If harmonic balancer has spun then it would not be at tdc and moving wires would not have fixed it. Need to pull #1 spark plug to confirm its at top to check that. My money is on sheared distributor pin or bad gear
timing all out of whack Thanks mike Yeah... I think that it is the distributor pin. It explains alot. I pulled the #1 plug and moved the fan blades until motor reached tdc. Then looked on the balancer and the markings lined up just fine. Then we put the wires back on the cap. The motor fired right up and ran fine. It was only after driving it for a few minutes, and turning motor on and off that it started to miss and faulter. That is when I thought about the gear, it is the only thing that is explaining the changes as it drives. I was getting it up to around 35 or 40 mph and it smoothed out and ran ok, then as speed lowered, it went crappy again. Anyways, I am still enjoying the sun down here in So-Cal for another 6 days, so I am not thinking about it until I get back. I will decide then when I will pull it apart. Weather is bad up there right now. Raining all the time. It just keeps raining and getting colder. So maybe if it gets sunny...I am not driving it in winter anyway. Thanks for your help guys. I will keep you posted. My son and I are planning on going and seeing the headquarters of Galpin autosports while we are down here. I would like to see there showroom and facility, we watch Pimp My Ride alot and we are pumped about going and seeing the guys at GAS. :bananaman P.S. How do I move this thread to tech??
timing problems mine did the same thing and it was a combination of things. #1 the distributor shaft was twisted #2 the distributor had alot of play in it(completely worn out) #3 motor was tired. ie cam was all but burned up and timing could bounce back and forth all over th place. Hope this last one isn't your case but now i got a fresh motor and zero problems. good luck.
