can't get ignition timing right.

[stevechaos]

Car is a 92 with an F22A1 and an auto transaxle.
My problem is that after installing a new distributor I cannot get the ignition timing back whete it should be. There isn't enough play in the distributor to rotate it far enough towards the radiator. When rotated all the way towards the front of the car the tip of the area on the flywheel where the timing marks are is just above the pointer.
That means that the car is running, but it lacks acceleration.
It wasn't like this before I swapped dizzys, and it's the same no matter what dizzy I put in. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[oyajicool]

Make sure to jump the blue service plug located in foot area of right seat when you are adjusting the timing.

[stevechaos]

Connector is jumped.
I'm going to check my cam timing and see where it is, but aside from that I'm kinda out of ideas.

[dj_ender]

Yeah, sounds like your mechanical timing is off

[stevechaos]

Nope. Cam timing was right on

[johnl]

Nope. Cam timing was right on

Is it still right on? I'd check it again. I can't think what else could cause your problem other then the camshaft timing being off. Perhaps the belt coincidentally jumped a tooth just before or just after changing the distributor...? Relatively unlikely but possible.

Have you recently changed the belt? Are you sure it was / is correctly tight?

[C91BLX7]

You sure youre reading the marks right? when you jump the connector does the cel come on? Is it running good?

[stevechaos]

Yes, the cel blinks as it should.
There's not many wrong ways to read the marks. I'm way below them, as in with the distributor turned all the way towards the radiator the pointer is pointing at the very bottom of the place on the flywheel where they are stamped. If I turn it as far as it goes the other way then all I can see through the window is a bolt head.

[dj_ender]

What's the part number stamped on the dizzy? Should be TD-xx

[stevechaos]

well I got it. I replaced my radiator cap. It was sucking in air and screwing with my base idle. I swapped it, bled the system, reset base idle and boom, back in business. That was about the last thing I thought to check. I figured that the erratic idle was due to the bad timing, so I had to kinda go back to square one to get it figured out.
Thanks all those who tried to help me out.

[dj_ender]

Having an erratic idle would have been a nice piece of info to have in the beginning...

[johnl]

well I got it. I replaced my radiator cap. It was sucking in air and screwing with my base idle.

You were trying to set ignition timing with the base idle speed too high? I think that would advance the base ignition timing (possibly a lot depending on how too high the idle was), which would be why you were running out of retard range with the dizzy rotation (and still not reaching 15° BTDC). Performance would have been bad because the ignition timing would have ended up being quite retarded.

I'm not sure why (as in have no idea) why a leaking radiator cap would cause a high idle speed. Confused...

[H311RA151N]

ENG: Setting Base Ignition Timing (F22ax, F22bx): http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=146242

"1) Critical to setting ignition timing, is to first have your idle set properly. Please refer to this thread link and complete before going to step # 2 on this thread."

ENG: Setting Base Idle Properly (F22ax, F22bx): http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=146239


A faulty radiator cap is not hard to fathom setting the grounds for an erratic idle issue. If air gets in the coolant system (which a faulty radiator cap can lead to) then you have a scenario set for a possible erratic idle issue.

[johnl]

A faulty radiator cap is not hard to fathom setting the grounds for an erratic idle issue. If air gets in the coolant system (which a faulty radiator cap can lead to) then you have a scenario set for a possible erratic idle issue.

I'm not saying it doesn't, but you might have to explain to me the train of cause and effect...