How to: Adjusting Ignition Timing



Adjusting your timing can give you a couple extra horse power and can improve your gas mileage. A lot of times this will be counted as a "free" performance mod, because you are gaining a few extra horses while not having to do much more then fueling up with a higher octane gas. Now higher Octane gas is more expensive, but the extra MPG's that you are getting should make it up.

These instructions are fairly similar to the ones by Naji Dahi, found here (http://www.geocities.com/n_dahi/timing/timing.htm), which are similar to the FSM ones.




What will be needed:

Timing Light Gun
Flathead Screwdriver
12mm Socket and Ratchet


http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3195.jpg

Process
This is the quicker/easier way to update your ignition timing.



1. Warm up the engine until the coolant temperature needle is in the middle, make sure the car is idling under 1k RPM

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3194.jpg



2. Open your hood and find and disconnect the TPS sensor. Your engine will rev up for a second then go back down to normal idling RPM's.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3196.jpg



3. Get inside your car and rev up your engine to 3k RPM 2-3 times. This will lock the timing, so that you would get an accurate reading.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3198.jpg


4. Connect the Timing Light Gun. You will need to connect it to your battery and the inductive pickup to the first cylinder's spark plug wire.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3199.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3200.jpg


5. Find the crank pulley, there should be a pin right above it, find it.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3205.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3204.jpg


6. Now you have an idea on where to point your Timing Gun.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3202.jpg



7. Turn the timing gun on and watch for the timing marks on the crank. The pin above the crank pulley will show you your current timing.

In this picture my timing is at 16*-17* TDC
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3206.jpg

Here is the Crank Pulley and timing marks from FSM
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/CrankPulley.jpg



8. To adjust your timing you will need to turn the distributor. Find your distributor and use the 12mm socket and ratchet to loosen the two bolts.

First bolt is towards the top:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3218.jpg

Second bolt:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3223.jpg



9. Turning the Distributor towards the Firewall will advance your timing, while turning the Distributor towards the Front of the engine will retard the timing.


http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3217.jpg



10. Turn the distributor in the desired direction, then check the timing. Make sure not to over do it! If you bump up your timing from 15* to 17*+ then you will need to run 91 Octane rating gas or better.

Here is my timing at 19*. I am running 93 Octane gas with this timing and so far no pinging or knocking.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3239.jpg

11. Tighten the Distributor bolts and reconnect the TPS then shut off the car. Start the car back up and make sure everything is working fine.

Suggestion You can make marks on your distributor for easier advancing/retarding of your timing.

These marks show the timing at 19*, 17*, and 15* on my car.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Performance/Timing/Cimg3244.jpg


Big thanks to Sentrixx (http://www.**********.com/member.php?u=366), daveracer (http://www.**********.com/member.php?u=26), and Sneakers O'Toole (http://www.**********.com/member.php?u=850).

If you have suggestions or questions please post them up in this thread. :)

kool write-up :) ... this might sound silly but what if when we pull the TPS plug (top one right?) and the engine dies.. what does it mean? Could it be that the TPS is not dialed of set in the right position or voltage?

Sorry if it's a dumb question.. and thx alot.

Try revving the engine up after you have unplugged it. If it still dies after that, I would post in the General Discussion and hope someone more technical answers :biggthump

There are How To's where suggest you to run constant 2000rpm under no load by 2 minutes, I noticed you don't suggest it, I guess is not required so...

There are How To's where suggest you to run constant 2000rpm under no load by 2 minutes, I noticed you don't suggest it, I guess is not required so...

Thats the longer way of doing it, as stated in the FSM. I am following the shorter method that Mike Kojima showed Naji Dahi on this page (http://www.geocities.com/n_dahi/timing/timing.htm), which also has the FSM method.