Ignition timing marks

[CharlieZ]

92 ATX

The manual refers to the white pointer on the timing belt lower cover, the yellow TCD mark on the crank pulley and the 10 degree mark on the crank pulley.

There is another set of timing marks that are incremented 10|||||T. Nowhere in the manual does it address this set of markings.

Anyone know for what and when they are used?

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/EL240H/Timing-marks.jpg

[hawkdoc60]

Actually, my Festies do not have the pointer or 10 degree notch on the pulley. I line up the TDC notch in the crank pulley with the "T" on the forward part of the cover that is in the scale with the "10". The "10" in that scale is the 10 degree advanced setting on mine. I have never seen that pointer before. It could be different because you have an auto, but I'm not sure.

[CharlieZ]

The pointer is pretty fragile. I'll check my 90 MTX tomorrow. As I reported earlier when I firrst got the car about a month ago, it had NO power. The engine would very slowly come up in RPM with or without load. Besides just being worn out there is something odd about the timing. Grounding the STI connector wire kills the engine at idle. When I raise the RPM to a couple thousand, grounding the pin doesn't kill the engine. I'll continue to try to figure it all out.

[hawkdoc60]

It might not hurt to plug your distributor vacuum lines and lining up your TDC mark with the "T" in the scale and see if that helps. I'm thinking that if you have it adjusted to that pointer, it would be WAY too far advanced.

[CharlieZ]

The distrib has no vacuum advance. All controlled by ECU. Plug wires are correct and the rotor points to the #1 plug position in the distributor. When the engine is physically at TDC as indicated by the crank timing gear and cam gear, the pointer aligns with the TDC mark on the crank pulley when it is installed. The distributor is to the full advance position in the slot. The timing light gave me ambiguous indications since I didn't know which timing marks came into play.

Does anyone know what grounding the STI wirer actually does?

[Pu241]

CharlieZ,
If you are grounding the STI connect it doesn't shut the engine down.
I did the same thing, you've got the wrong connector, look closer there are two similar connectors easily confused.
One is the STI and the other will shut the engine down when grounded(don't know what it for).

[CharlieZ]

I'll check that tomorrow. Thanks. The shop manual points to the black one. The diagram shows only one wire/contact in the loose plug. There is another one-contact plug but it's white. I'l try it anyhow.
Thanks

Can you believe it's going to get cold again here tomorrow? Below freezing! I put my long-johns up for the year too.

[bravekozak]

Sti

From reading on the internet, grounding the STI (self test input) starts the diagnostic pulse cycle. you may interpret the pulse with a voltmeter or a light (if you don't have an error code checker) at the STO (self-test output) connector. Then check the shop manual to see what the number of pulses means.

This is the link to the Ford Probe web site:

http://www.performanceprobe.com/doityourself/diagnostics/atst.php?app=89&print=1

[CharlieZ]

^^^ Ah Ha! Back to the books.
Thank you.
CZ