timing is on the agenda for this weekend, borrowing a timing gun from someone at work.

thanks

three things i'd for:


a boost leak.
a potato stuck in my tailpipes.
incredibly retarded ignition timing.

I am hoping to do the timing this weekend, then the wideband O2.

thanks

when doing the o2 I will check for potatoes

if not the timing there appears to be something retarded with the way my car is running, hopefully the timing will help

Unfortunately, I have not gotten to try to correct the issued I have been having with the Miata until today (hoped to do it 2 weeks ago). I was checking the timing and it seems WAY off. My idle is high and not the most constant, which I am sure is not helping. I am posting a (blurry) picture showing where the timing mark I found (and then added whiteout so I could see it) is, compared to the stationary marker.

Any thoughts:

Heh. I'm guessing you're not actually idling at 50° BTDC. :D

Pull the #1 spark plug. Place the oil dipstick down the hole. Rotate the crankshaft by hand (well, by wrench anyway) while observing the up-down motion of the dipstick relative to the mark on the pulley. Ideally, the dipstick will reach apogee when the mark on the pulley is at 0 (or T) on the indicator.

If this is not the case, then the outer ring of your pulley has slipped relative to the hub.

Thanks Joe! I was looking at how far off that was and thought that something had to be wrong, no way it could run with timing that far off.

No, you can't. My overboost protection shuts the fuel injectors off at 17.5psi.