Tools needed:

Jumper wire.
13mm spanner to loosen dizzy
Timing light.

Make sure car is in Park or neutral with Handbrake firmly applied.

Remove fuse box cover, located to the right side of steering column. Diagnostic connector located top left side and looks like this...



Start by connecting timing light according to manufacturs instructions, then short pins marked ENG STI & ENG GND. Then start engine, engine will rev higher than normal. Check timing with light within 1 min or self diagonstics will cancel this part. If this happens turn key off for at least 30 sec's.

On I6 the timing notch on the pulley should line up with with the pointer on front crankcase.

On V8 there is a series of numbers on a plate adjacent to the front pulley. base timing is 30º ± 2º





Any questions, queires, feedback welcome

I'll have to double check, but I understand that the base timing on the I6 is 2 degrees BTDC.

That is correct, however you just line the marks up. the bottom pic illustrated is for the V8

Hello Mac, if the timing has been set, say three years ago, can the timing get out of wack again. Is it a good idea to check your timing, if so how often. Regards.

Depends on the car. Older cars with points should be checked and adjusted more often than a electronic dizzy one. Same as a car with timing chains as opposed to timing gears. I check my timing every 12 mths or so or when I feel the car might be under powered.

Thanks for you reply Mac, 97 El falcon, when you check you timing is it ok or out. Regards.

Basically would depend on a number of factors. Klm on eng and how hard the car gets driven. Basically the timing changes as the timing chain stretches. Usually it would ony be out by a degree or two at worse. High reving of the engine will make this situation worse as will high klms. Also if a new chain has been fitted there is usually more stretch initally than later in its life.

Ok. thanks for your reply. Regards.

Shane a late after thought, does the motor have to be up to running temp, before you check and adjust the timing.

usually yes that would help

My 97 EL is quite old (158k), 4 litre auto with after-market dual fuel ULP/LPG. Acceleration on both fuels is just fine but it misfires at idle on ULP (hence my interest in checking the timing). I replaced the plugs WR9LCX with no change to symptoms.

So I've just tried this technique to check the timing but found that after the STI and ground pins are interconnected, the engine starts at 500rpm, hesitates, rises to about 900 rpm for about ten seconds and then reverts to 500 rpm where it stays.

According to all the manuals, in the it's supposed to stay at high revs for over a minute. Any ideas why it's not behaving like it should - it's not enough time to get around to the timing light?

In addition, the timing light is showing chnages in timing during that period just after starting the engine with STI grounded - not sure whether I should expect that with the change in revs mentioned above?

Without STI and ground connected (ie normal operation), the engine starts OK, idles at 750 rpm and stays fairly steady apart from the random misfires.

TIA!

i know gas can be harsh on the injectors if not run on ULP every now and then

Maybe dirty injectors or faulty leads?

Hi there,

a couple of the guys of this forum talked me through the injector issue about 6 months ago -very helpful. I now have a regular routine of a 20km ULP run after every gas refill (ie every 4 days), and I leave it on ULP overnight as well to help the gear not to dry out.

That's helped it not to get totally clagged like it used to. But, I did wonder about the injectors, so I'm running cleaner through them now. You may be on the money...

However, my failure to be able to check tuning per the manual has me worried - it's like the computer is not working right. I'm sure a Ford dealer's diagnostic gear would tell them the answer, but it could be a costly exercise when I'm reasonably capable myself (but don't have that kind of gear!)

Cheers

Ian

it might pay to take it to ford for a diagnostic..... my car wont go into diagnostic mode since the manual conversion even though its all wired up correctly (i think) and im running a manual ecu.

Hey guys, I have a 1996 EL 4.0L 5sp manual and have the same issue (high revs for 10sec), could it be that manual ecu's act like that?
I have been adjusting my timing by putting it in diagnostic mode and then just adjusting the dizzy in small increments and driving the car i.e. totally trial and error.
I also have not worked out/completely understood the marker. Advancing the timing pushes the notch more towards the left of the marker (looking towards the engine from the front). And currently it works best when its way to the left (just about vertically above the crank shaft) - running on 98 octane, and considering my diagnostic mode could be faulty(?).
So to summarise (please correct if i am wrong) on a 4.0L EL,
1. to advance the timing you need rotate the dizzy anti-clockwise which will push the timing notch towards the left (looking at the engine from the from of the car and using a timing light).
2. to retard the engine you need to rotate the dizzy clockwise, pushing the timing notch towards the right.