Car Trouble

[dlb]

He set timing to 13 or 15 degrees

was this with or without the manifold vac advance line hooked up to the dizzy?

Thanks to this guy the timing mark in able to be set between 5 BTDC and 15 BTDC

that is too great a window for the timing. it should be clearly set between 5* and 10* BTDC, with the manifold vac advance line disconnected. the line must be reconnected after setting the timing.

Over the years I have had trouble setting the TP's RPMs, now it appears the TP is done, or at least unreliable.

have you tested the TP diaphragm by sucking on the vac line that goes to it? it should hold vacuum when you suck on the line. if you can suck air, the diaphragm is broken and you must replace the TP.

Luckily I have a rebuilt carb I bought on eBay a few years ago. It was packed well-- I hope nothing dried out-- it hasn't been around dirt or grit.

as long as it was stored in a clean, dry place with no prolonged exposure to extreme heat or cold, it should be fine.

BUT it worries me that the dizzy HAS to be pushed all the way towards the FW to get to 13-15 degrees.

have you checked the dizzy to make sure it's not gummed up? i had a project terc recently that acted lousy and i found that the grease in the advance mechanisms had gotten really dirty or dried up and were causing it to stick. read my post on it here:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 563#p56857

easy to check, just remove the dizzy cap and try turning the rotor counter clockwise. it should have about 1 cm of spring-loaded play and easily return to its resting position. if not, just remove and disassemble the dizzy (not hard), clean out the old grease and re-grease it with high temp stuff.

[celtglen]

DLB, the 13-15 BTDC is WITH the vac advance line(s) attached.
What I meant about the between 5 and 15 BTDC is that I am finally ABLE to set the timing, sorry to be unclear. It had been WAY off the timing marks--not even NEAR the scale.

Though now, the vac advance NO LONGER ADVANCES..so we set the timing to 13-15 for drivability.
The rotor snaps back but it IS greater than 1cm AND IT IS A NEW REFURBED DIZZY I bought from RockAuto.

Thanks for the tip on the TP, I will suck the line and see.

Any of you guys near Renton?

[Petros]

do not assume the distributor is good, many of the re-manufactured distrib are junk right out of the box. I bought a Tercel once and the guy has spent big bucks for a "new" distributor, the timing was jumping all over the place. I swaped in my spare, problem goes away. I took the "new" distributor apart to find out it was a reman, and the internal mounting plate was rattling around loose.

Make sure it is installed correctly (gear tooth lined up so rotor points at number one spark plug terminal when engine is at TDC), set timing with vac advance line off and plugged, and it idling at 800 rpm. Than with timing light on it rev engine to check mechanical advance (spark timing should advance). Than put vac lines on and check again, if it does not advance change the vac advace diaphram or change the whole dist. assembly.

[celtglen]

Petros,

Thanks for the info, I am about to put the old dizzy back in. The ONLY reason I changed it out was the vac advance can on the old one was inoperative.

CG