MX-3.com

Alllllllriiight... I got it to idle smooth for about an hour and drove it about a mile to see if it can keep it's idle after a bit of load. But, before I did that, I tried to get the ignition timing perfect. And to my surprise, rotating the disty does nothing to adjust the timing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Here's exactly what I did:
1. Got the timing gun.
2. Loosened the distributor
3. Hooked up the timing gun
4. Turned on the car
5. Pointed the light
6. Saw the mark was about four inches in the direction of the back of the car.
7. Turned the disty
8. Kept turning the disty
9. Turned it all the way till it stopped
10. Saw that the line wasn't moving at all.
11. Turned the disty the other way till it stopped. and the line still didn't move.
12. Assumed I have a rare distributor that actually was electronic and posing as a rotary.
13. Drove my car because I was excited that it was working.



The numbers on the disty I'm using are different than whats in the book... but it's the one that came with the engine. I would love it if someone explained to me so I could understand this

OK so the ECU is great at compensating for your timing adjustments. I do not see where you put it in diagnostic mode. Before you begin the process and start the car put it in diag mode by jumping TEN and GRD in the diagnostic port.
Use the K8 distributor if you have a distributor from a newer engine . off the top of my head its something like T0T57071... That might not be right because I am on my phone taking a dump and didnt double check the numbers but close enough. You can then adjust timing. The difference could be the CAS in the distributor.

Also I don't see where you stated what oil pressure sensor you are using. Is it the stock sensor? Or aftermarket?
The stock sensor only has two states... On and off. So it will trigger a CEL but not function a gauge.
You need an electronic pressure sender from autometer or similar brand. It's a larger cylindrical unit that can read actual range of oil pressure and send that reading to a gauge.
So you can't use an OEM sensor with a gauge and you can't use the aftermarket sender with the OEM CEL. It will just light the CEL up.

Yeah... I was just looking at the oil light on the dash assumimg that whilst it was on there was no pressure. It went off though after letting it run ten seconds at a time till it turned off. I'm not sure if that method works the way I thought it would. But it runs ok now. I might do the oil pressure gauge though. I think the distributor that was on the k8 isn't working. I wasn't getting spark out of it.

icajewler wrote:Yeah... I was just looking at the oil light on the dash assumimg that whilst it was on there was no pressure.

That is exactly what the oil pressure light means - low oil pressure. Be worried if the light comes on. As SuperK points out the stock oil pressure sensor is an oil pressure switch. You need a sensor and gauge if you want to see actual pressure.

For future you can disable fuel (disconnect fuel pump or pull fuse) or leave spark plugs disconnected and turn the engine with the starter to build some oil pressure before you actually start the engine.

Remember that when the engine is dry you need about 1 qt. of additional oil (a little over 5 qts instead of a little over 4 qts with oil change).

Typical KLDE oil pressure (assume accurate gauge and warm engine)
idle (650-700 rpm): 15 - 20psi
cruise (~3000 rpm): 40 - 50 psi