setting timing ?

t-money80

Daily Driver
Mar 2, 2008
33
0
0
Granite City IL
Today i was setting the timing on my 350 and when i put my hand on top of the distributor to set the timing the timing mark wound jump all over . I had to push on the vacum advance canister to get it set . With my hand off everthing is stable but as soon as i touch the coil the mark blinks off and on and is not stable . Also when i do this nothing happens to the motor rpm and the car runs ok. What might cause this to happen? Thanks .
 

Sikmalibu

Dragway Regular
Apr 2, 2008
744
0
0
Central NJ
Is the dist loose it might be jumping a tooth. Or maybe the coil is grounding out when you touch it. Its hard to diagnose on the computer.
 

racecar77

Pro Stocker
Aug 11, 2007
2,438
0
0
Crete,IL
Sikmalibu said:
Is the dist loose it might be jumping a tooth. Or maybe the coil is grounding out when you touch it. Its hard to diagnose on the computer.

What??? That's not even close to correct advice. To jump a tooth the distributor would have to come up out of the block high enough to dis-engage the distributor gear from the camshaft gear. The motor was running.
 

injected

Frequent Racer
Dec 21, 2006
432
0
0
Quebec , Canada
racecar77 said:
Sikmalibu said:
Is the dist loose it might be jumping a tooth. Or maybe the coil is grounding out when you touch it. Its hard to diagnose on the computer.

What??? That's not even close to correct advice. To jump a tooth the distributor would have to come up out of the block high enough to dis-engage the distributor gear from the camshaft gear. The motor was running.
x2
 

Sikmalibu

Dragway Regular
Apr 2, 2008
744
0
0
Central NJ
sorry boys I read it wrong...never again do I leave advice after a long day at work!
 

Doober

Moderator
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
1
38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
Is your vacuum advance canister disconnected? It needs to be disconnected to get an accurate reading. If the car is running fine it may be electricity flowing through you to the timing light, making it act erratic. I always try to make sure I'm touching as little as possible when I set the timing, just to be safe.
 

TNTS79

Dragway Regular
Jan 6, 2006
1,252
0
0
Illiniois
Sounds like the problem is in your timing light or the inductive pick up to me....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Vacuum advance is bad and not holding the ring in the same spot when no vacuum is applied. That's my guess. Pull the advance out of the distributor and see if it has play in it, and if vacuum even makes it work.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
injected said:
racecar77 said:
Sikmalibu said:
Is the dist loose it might be jumping a tooth. Or maybe the coil is grounding out when you touch it. Its hard to diagnose on the computer.

What??? That's not even close to correct advice. To jump a tooth the distributor would have to come up out of the block high enough to dis-engage the distributor gear from the camshaft gear. The motor was running.
x2

Don't forget the most important part, you'd lose ALL oil pressure pretty damn quick. :lol:
 

t-money80

Daily Driver
Thread starter
Mar 2, 2008
33
0
0
Granite City IL
Thanks for the help. The car is running good and it only does it if i touch the coil, (HEI)
if i push on the vacuum advance its is stable. I did have the vac / adv disconnected. Ill recheck everthing and try the light on another car . Again thanks for all the help.
 

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