'88 Ford Festiva - Wierd Ignition Timing

[Speedbird]

Mine would read really high with a timing light. Change the belt. It should help. After taking the covers off, clean the area good around the cam seal. Then crank it up and look for fresh oil.

[DougMountainLion]

By the way - it's carbed, all right. So was my prior Festiva, a 1989 Maroon colored one, which I totaled on August 15, '04.

I'm driving another Festiva simply because their gas economy is unbeatable!

[DougMountainLion]

Yep! Sure did! Still got the 20° - 25° offset from TDC.

[DontFearTheReaper]

Since it is a '88 I assume it is carbed? Did you disconnect the vacuum advance from the distributor (and plug it) prior to checking your timing?

Just a thought...

[DougMountainLion]

I bought this baby on May 6th. Named her "Excalibur".

Excalibur's Engine runs unusually cool, but that's probably just a thermostat stuck open. No biggie there.

However, the engine performance is at it's best when set at 20° to 25°
ABOVE TDC instead of right on TDC as called out on the Haynes shop manual.

When set at TDC, the engine runs but has almost no power, and next to no acceleration at all. At 20° to 25° above TDC, it runs as if it were set AT TDC.

Is it possible I have a faulty timing belt in need of replacement?
This car has a 1.3L engine with Manual 4-speed transmission
and NO AC or Power steering. How hard is it to replace a timing belt?

Also I noticed that the top of the engine right behind the back side of the timing belt cover is oily. When I replace the timing belt, should I replace the camshaft oil seal while I'm at it?

Thoughts?