timing ignition
Discussion
I think he's wrong 
There was a very useful article in Car Mechanics magazine, February 1995, on diagnostics for the Cologne 2.9, copies do still crop up on Ebay.
(someone may well have a scan or photocopy they can send or email you)?
It states timing as 12 degrees, disconnect the throttle pot, not the complete ECU to set
There was a very useful article in Car Mechanics magazine, February 1995, on diagnostics for the Cologne 2.9, copies do still crop up on Ebay.
(someone may well have a scan or photocopy they can send or email you)?
It states timing as 12 degrees, disconnect the throttle pot, not the complete ECU to set
Edited by phillpot on Friday 15th July 19:39
phillpot said:
I think he's wrong
There was a very useful article in Car Mechanics magazine, February 1995, on diagnostics for the Cologne 2.9, copies do still crop up on Ebay.
(someone may well have a scan or photocopy they can send or email you)?
I added a link to this document (and others) to the New Alternaitive Parts List. See the "Useful Links" section. There was a very useful article in Car Mechanics magazine, February 1995, on diagnostics for the Cologne 2.9, copies do still crop up on Ebay.
(someone may well have a scan or photocopy they can send or email you)?
12deg was right for my car.
Ideally you need to set the ECU to service mode but I don’t have a fault reader and my local garage couldn’t get theirs to talk to my ECU. I found that unplugging the throttle pot lets you set the ignition timing close enough for the car to be fully usable but the ECU still tries to fiddle with the timing while you are setting it, and stops you being very accurate, and in my case the car seemed a little less eager on acceleration afterward.
I found a diary post by Deadpineapple where he suggested cutting the spout (spark out) lead to the distributor to set the base timing (and fitting a connector).
As this wire (blue/red, second one down from the top on the distributor connector plug , from ECU pin 36) is screened I was reluctant to cut it. But by removing the red locking strip it is possible to pull this one connector out of the plug, a bit of tape round the bare end and put the plug back in the dizzy. Start the engine again and the timing mark is dead steady under the strobe and doesn’t change with revs or temperature.
Found that 12deg BTDC set with the throttle pot disconnected = 6 deg BTDC with spout disconnected
Reset it to exactly 12 deg BTDC. Put the spout connector back in the plug (its a bit of a fiddle getting it back through the rubber seal in the back but it will go). And off for a test drive. Spot on and all the acceleration is back. Problem solved.
Ideally you need to set the ECU to service mode but I don’t have a fault reader and my local garage couldn’t get theirs to talk to my ECU. I found that unplugging the throttle pot lets you set the ignition timing close enough for the car to be fully usable but the ECU still tries to fiddle with the timing while you are setting it, and stops you being very accurate, and in my case the car seemed a little less eager on acceleration afterward.
I found a diary post by Deadpineapple where he suggested cutting the spout (spark out) lead to the distributor to set the base timing (and fitting a connector).
As this wire (blue/red, second one down from the top on the distributor connector plug , from ECU pin 36) is screened I was reluctant to cut it. But by removing the red locking strip it is possible to pull this one connector out of the plug, a bit of tape round the bare end and put the plug back in the dizzy. Start the engine again and the timing mark is dead steady under the strobe and doesn’t change with revs or temperature.
Found that 12deg BTDC set with the throttle pot disconnected = 6 deg BTDC with spout disconnected
Reset it to exactly 12 deg BTDC. Put the spout connector back in the plug (its a bit of a fiddle getting it back through the rubber seal in the back but it will go). And off for a test drive. Spot on and all the acceleration is back. Problem solved.
My S2 has a full stage 2 rebuild with bigger valves & fast road cam. Xworks recently adjusted the timing and found that 14 degrees is where the engine felt "happiest", and it has certainly made a big difference to the BHP and acceleration in the first half of the rev range. That was with the ECU disconnected but not the more complex de-wiring described earlier.
BOB
BOB
I need to take it back to my local rolling road to get a final figure and have the fuelling checked again, now that the timing is right. Inexplicably at the last session they apparently didn't check the timing before doing all the other tuning stuff. As a result, the final BHP figure at the flywheel was only 172 when it was previously 185 before the rebuild. Their explanation was that their rolling road was digital and therefore more accurate than the ones I had used before ...hmm. Heath later found that the real reason was that the timing was out - according to him, by 4 degrees.
The previous rolling road session at Minisport gave a flywheel figure of 189, but found that one of the air meters was faulty and one of the distributor porcelains was cracked all the way across. The tester reckoned those defects were costing at least 5 BHP. With those defects fixed, a pair of new air meters recently fitted, and the timing done, the final figure should hopefully be around 195.
Suffice to say that right now it feels fiendishly fast compared to before.
BOB
The previous rolling road session at Minisport gave a flywheel figure of 189, but found that one of the air meters was faulty and one of the distributor porcelains was cracked all the way across. The tester reckoned those defects were costing at least 5 BHP. With those defects fixed, a pair of new air meters recently fitted, and the timing done, the final figure should hopefully be around 195.
Suffice to say that right now it feels fiendishly fast compared to before.
BOB
One point to watch when setting timing with a strobe is that on an older engine there might be a little bit of timing chain stretch. That means that the "spark firing point" in the distributor might not be correctly in sync with the timing mark, so if you set the timing with a strobe, you might end up with it slightly too far advanced.
phillpot said:
I think he's wrong
There was a very useful article in Car Mechanics magazine, February 1995, on diagnostics for the Cologne 2.9, copies do still crop up on Ebay.
(someone may well have a scan or photocopy they can send or email you)?
It states timing as 12 degrees, disconnect the throttle pot, not the complete ECU to set
He’s right - here is the page that refers to ignition timing!There was a very useful article in Car Mechanics magazine, February 1995, on diagnostics for the Cologne 2.9, copies do still crop up on Ebay.
(someone may well have a scan or photocopy they can send or email you)?
It states timing as 12 degrees, disconnect the throttle pot, not the complete ECU to set
Edited by phillpot on Friday 15th July 19:39
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