More engine fun!! :)

Okay, I got ahold of a timing light and set it upon my malfunctioning motor. Get this, the timing mark is skipping around like a school girl!! On average it's in the right place (which is 10 degrees advanced with the computer line shorted), but it skips as far out as 15 and as far in as 5!!!!

What in the heck could be causing this?!

[caddmannq]

Shot timing chain, worn distributor drive gear/shaft/coupling, shot advance weight springs....

Advance weight springs? Please explain.

Timing belt has 20K miles on it, >probably< not that, though I'm typically wrong in these situations.

I will check the distributor gear in about ten minutes.

Thanks again, cadd.

[Bushmaster]

refresh my memory, what car is this ?.

[Cruez]

There are a set of springs in the distributor that allow for mechanical advance....

usually under a plate in the distributor.

[caddmannq]

Take off the distributor cap and grab the rotor. Can you shake it side to side? back & forth? It shouldn't. beans the distributor needs new bushings.

Can you turn it in one direction & does it snap right back? It should. If not, the mechanical advance springs are shot or broken, or the mechanism is worn out.

There's maybe an 1/16th of an inch of play in the rotor itself. Nothing that hasn't always been there as I remember. Other than that, I can't turn the rotor in either direction, nor does it have any side-side play.

Bushmaster, it's an 88 toyota pickup with a 3.0L V6. I've been plaguing the board with my troubles as of late, so you probably wouldn't be hard pressed to find the last thread I started in here.

[Bushmaster]

I'd venture to guess you're having troubles with the pick-up. Possibly a bad connection or it's just starting to fail. With the lead to the electronic advance dissconnected the mark should stay pretty steady as long as your rpm's are constant.

Well, I took the rotor out and it doesn't show any signs of severe wear. Unfortunately I don't remember where it was in the spin, so now I get to play trial and error for a couple hours.

Let it not be said that I am not a genius.

[Brainchild]

Pull the dist cap off,turn the crank one direction till the rotor starts to move, then the other till it moves, that will tell you how much wear is in the chain.Shouldn't be a lot of play. This could be the reason it's running so strange