immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

i know this is the second time i post this but i cant seam to find my anser any where.
im working on a 85 se 12A when i hook up the timing light to my leading 1 i cant see the yelow dot, some times when i rev up the engine and let it go i can see it for 1 sec and i can adjust it like that, but then the yelow disapears. how ever if i hook my timing light to the leading 2 i can see the mark with no problems and if i set it up using the leading #2 it idles funny. now get this, if i swap the leading and traling coils the car still runs the same and still cant see the yelow on the leading #1 but can see it on leading #2. so i took the cap and gave it a 180 turn and it still runs, with the same problem no yelow shows up, if i swap the leading and traling coils still no yelow dot. and for my next question witch coil is the leading the front or back one? i all so tried to swap the spark plug wires ( taking T2 L2 and moving it to L1 T1 and taking L1 T1 and moving it to T2 L2 hoping i could see the timing dot but the car wont run) what do i do. o and there is no lvacum leak i just changed the hoses. some one toled me i hade to use a jumper wire but i dont se that any where in my manuel.

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

It sounds to me that the front pulley is on 180* off. The pulley on these cars can be put on 4 different ways. BTW: You said it is an 85 se 12a (Is it a GSL-SE with a 12a in it or is it a GSL, GS. or S model?) The -SE came with a 13b engine.

Has the engine been rebuilt or has the front pulley been removed? If you suspect the pulley is on wrong, remove the 4 small bolts in the front of the pulley (10mm), rotate the pulley 180* and reinstall. When you put the light on L2, was the mark near the pin?

Just to be sure. The front coil is the trailing, rear is leading (coil wires don't cross as they connect to the dizzy). The front rotor is #1, rear is #2. Top plugs are trailing, bottom are leading.

The jumper cable thing you heard about is for the later cars (2nd and 3rd gen). You don't need to worry about that.

Kent

immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

ok thanks the car has a se stiker on it i dont think they rebuild the engin before i got it, but ya itsa 12A il do the pully thing for now i used the coil wire to et the timing of the leading and traling car runs fine seam to have power to but il give that pully a try thanks

Kentetsu

Ummm, you shouldn't really use the coil wire to set the timing, if that's what you're trying to do. You need to use the spark plug wire to set timing.

Make sure that you're idle is set properly. If it is idling high, then the mechanical advance will be causing issues and the mark will be off..


Use front bottom plug to set the leading, then front top plug to set the trailing. Hope this helps...

immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

ok i have moved the pully and found my timing mark, now when i set the timing the car runs like **** has no power and i get 100rpm just beofre it stalls. but when i used the leading coil to time it it was runing nice and really responsive. is it ok to set the timing where the car runs the best and has the hight rpm levels, or is there something else i should try? im thinking that if i set the idle better the car will still proforme the same, but i guss at higher rpm the car dose seam to run good what do you all think?

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

Something still doesn't seem right. So when you moved the pulley (180*?) the leading mark using L1 lined right up? How about the trailing? Is it lining up with its mark? Do you have the coil/plug wires on right? Is the dist. cap on right (trailing coil spot at the top)? When you try to time on the leading coil, you get a strobe on both the front and rear rotor (180* apart), so you don't know which one you are really timing it to.

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

^ proxy error

immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

yes and i am getting spark 180* apart, the dis is in its place, wires are ok, the traling is set ok
so ya it all seams in order, i was dundering tho if i play with the idle can this solve the problem?

immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

of rouhgt idleing if the car runs at a good rpm mabey it will take its gas better then if its all most at a stall wright?

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

So when you time off of L1, the mark lines up with the pin? Are you sure on the plug wires. You said that you were moving them around before. Maybe some are still mixed up? Is it still running bad even with the timing marks lined up to where they are suppose to be? To get the timing, you didn't have to remove the distributor at all did you? Does the trailing mark line up when you time off of T1?

I think there is probably still a timing issue. I don't think adjusting the carb will help you at the moment. Fix this before moving on. What rpm are you setting the timing at? It should be at idle (~800 rpm).

immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

well when i was setting the timing at frist the rpm was about 750 to 800 till i set it wright on the pin then it when down to 100 ish, if i even tryed to move the puilly one notch both ways to see if i might be off but the 180* was what it needed. the wires are all in there wright place, now if i scratched the dis a little with sand paper could this cause it to run bad?

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

No, scratching the dis cap won't hurt anything. Try taking off the dist cap and look for damage. How does the dist. rotor look? I don't know what else to try. I does sound like a timing issue, though. Does the trailing line up with its mark?

immanuel__7

iTrader: (8)

yes it dose, but its funny how i can cross the coils and it dose not seam to chage any thing runs just as good or bad, and if i time it using the leading coil wire it runs fine, is there anything wrong with having it timined but ear, then latter on doing road test trying to get better gas milage by moving the timing litttle by little? or should i just leave the timing running bad like that and take it for a timing job at the mazda shop 1:30min a way?

FB II

lol, this sounds EXACTLY like what i am currently going thru... but mine has like a 10:1 afr at idle. hahaha, then again, my timing is still f-d up. if you figure it out, PLEASE POST! might help me as well. lol

GLC13B

I'm going through the same crap as well ! I felt like a dumb *** cause i can't figure this timing out. So, please post after the correction has been completed

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Since this became a common question, here it is. This timing mark is for a 12-A engine. (Pre-RX-7 12-A engine is used for illustration purposes).

This is ur TDC



Pulley's key at 9 0'clock position



Assuming that you remove the 4 pulley bolts and forget to set lign up the marks, remove sheet metal panel located in the rear of the engine (behind the exhaust). This will expose the flywheel. Turn the engine til you see the mark in the flywheel.




Also, in case anyone is wondering, the flywheel's key is at 3 o'clock at TDC.

Kentetsu

Bless you for clearing up this whole mess! Never had the issue myself, but I've seen a lot of threads lately singing the same tune.... Nice work Wacky!

FB II

hmmm, didn't know about the dip in the flywheel; bout to run outside and check. thanks alot!

FB II

ok, i have that sideplate off and i'm not seeing any mark at all. what mark am i looking for?

RX744CSP

iTrader: (4)

Along the same lines, I am putting a Dellorto sidedraft on a 12A. There's no provision for vacuum advance; how do I handle ignition timing? The reason I ask, if the vacuum advance is not used, this changes the total advance.

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

Zac: You should see a notch in the flywheel lined up with that inspection plate when the leading mark on the front pulley is lined up with the timing pin. This is just verification to see if the front pulley is installed right (won't help with actual timing).

I don't recall the numbers offhand, but many in this situation set the timing at full mechanical advance (> 4000rpm). You will have to mark the pulley for these new point or find a pulley with timing marks already on it. Search around this site a bit. I know it is on here. I want to say it is 24* leading, 16* trailing, but look around to be sure. It may help to start a separate thread if you can't find what you need through the search.


Kent

FB II

exactly, i dont see any notches

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

Did you try to rotate the engine to try to find it. Here is what Mazdatrix shows for the flywheels. It is hard to tell from the pics where the keyway is in relation to the notch, but it appears that most of them do have a notch of some kind. You don't have an aftermarket flywheel, do you?

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/flywheel.htm

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Exactly. The flywheel trick is only for reference since there are 4 ways to install the pulley.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

All stock flywheels have a flat side. For aluminium/lightened steel flywheels, its very tricky as its hard to see the rear counterweight which should be facing the driver side (IIRC).