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I replaced the disty on the 93 mx-3 to clear the 03 crank sensor code and it worked! Immediately set timing to 10 degrees (with ten/grd jumped) and ran the car to the smog shop. The car passed smog (yeah!) but now it seems to be a little low on power. I didn't check the timing before I pulled the old disty.

Do you guys normally advance the timing a bit more for more power? What's a good number to shoot for? Also, the timing mark on the engine has "10" and "T" with notches in between. It looks like advancing the timing goes past the "10" and further away from the "T" - is this correct (does it make sense?).

Thanks for all the help!

You have to put the car in diagnostic mode when you adjust the timing (jump TEN and Ground). Did you do that?

hpcbmw wrote:Immediately set timing to 10 degrees (with ten/grd jumped) and ran the car to the smog shop.

umcamara wrote:You have to put the car in diagnostic mode when you adjust the timing (jump TEN and Ground). Did you do that?

The car should definitely bet set to 10* advance. Changing that wont do a thing since the ECU actually automatically advances the timing as you accelerate I believe.

Did you by any chance forget to pull the jumper out? I don't think you'll have as much power in diagnostic mode.

David

Ahhh.... I missed that. Sorry guys. As you were buh-bye...

Ya, I took the jumper out. Just drove the car about 100 miles - it's a little less powerful and seems to stumble when i accelerate in 4th or 5th from mid rpm range. Still pulls nicely on top. I wonder if the old disty had it running lean somehow, and that gave me extra power. Not sure how a disty would make it lean, though. Changed plugs, pcv valve, cap, rotor and plug wires after I changed disty, just before getting it smogged.
Any ideas? Oh - temps here went from mid 60's last week to high 80's this weekend. Maybe that made a difference?

There's also a debate about whether the jumper should be pulled before or after turning off the engine. I've always pulled the jumper, then shut off the engine, then restarted later for testing. This seems to be the procedure that the online manual encourages as well.

Did you recheck your timing after having done all this, then turning engine off, then restarting and allowing it to reach NORMAL operating temp?

My senior mechanic (30+ years, does all the electrical) pulls out the jumper before turning off the vehicle. I really really trust his knowledge base.