[Red95_5Oh]

So today, I put in new front struts finally. The dude who put them in knew his shit was pretty fucking squared away. So I asked him to check my timing and according to the balancer to tic mark on the diz is way to the left of the tic on the block. Like WAAAAAAY to the left. So I took it for a drive and it hauled ass but pinged like the CMD command. So we retarded it again back to close to where it was originally. It pinged slightly at WOT so dude told me to put in some 91 and octane booster (CA gas >_>) and see what it does.

My question and hope is if someone who is timed at 10 BTDC take a picture of your tic marks on the diz/block and post it up here so I can see where you are at compared to where I am at. I am like 1/16 or so to the left. I will take a picture later today.

[Red95_5Oh]

Well I guess no one is timed at 10BTDC haha. Well I am going to set my engine at TDC stick somethin into the 1 piston and check diz rotor. If rotor not pointing at number 1 off a tooth, if piston continues up balancer off.

[fogged306]

You need a piston stop to correctly set TDC on the number 1 cylinder with the heads on. You can't just stick something in the cylinder and feel where it's at its highest point because the piston dwells at TDC for a few degrees.

[Red95_5Oh]

I see... I think we missed each other on shoving things down strange holes... I have never heard of a piston stop before? So any other advice on the topic? I do have to say... since we advanced the timing closer to where it should be... it feels like a brand new car! You step on the go pedal and holy shit you go! Do you really have to take everything off the front of the car (Raidiator and such) to pull the pinche balancer? Do you have a recommendation of a balancer?

[fogged306]

Piston stop

Make sure you're on the compression stroke for the number 1 cylinder. You screw that in like a spark plug. Then turn the engine over till that piston comes up and hits the stop. Mark that point on your balancer where the timing pointer is aimed. Then rotate the engine backwards until that piston hits the stop again. Mark that point on the balancer the same way. Halfway between those two points is exactly TDC for the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder.

I've never pulled a balancer on a SN-95 car before so I don't know how much room you have to work with the puller.

[Red95_5Oh]

Originally Posted by fogged306 Piston stop Make sure you're on the compression stroke for the number 1 cylinder. You screw that in like a spark plug. Then turn the engine over till that piston comes up and hits the stop. Mark that point on your balancer where the timing pointer is aimed. Then rotate the engine backwards until that piston hits the stop again. Mark that point on the balancer the same way. Halfway between those two points is exactly TDC for the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder. I've never pulled a balancer on a SN-95 car before so I don't know how much room you have to work with the puller.

Supposedly, I will have to take off the whole front end to the radiator. As of right now, my timing is ok. I think I had some carbon built up on the pistons and that was causing some of the problems with the pinging. I checked my timing but I am blind as a fucking bat (Plus I was doing while at work). We marked off zero and 10*. Forgot which mark was which as I can not see the timing marks clearly due to blindness/rust. But it is fairly close to one of the marks. But thanks for the advice I think this here is some of the best advice received on this forum!

[johnGT]

The harmonic balancer is a common issue for our cars. Mine went bad at around 270,000 miles.

If you see oil coming out of the front main seal behind it, feel the car shake at certain RPM's and if the car feels like it is all out of wack with timing, these are all indicators that the harmonic balancer is going out.

[mikeracing]

its the balancer that has spun they are fairly cheap my the rubber came almost out completely if the front pully would have failed it would have come through the hood but i can say thats def whats wrong