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1988 318/2BBL timing

I am hoping someone here can give me the specifictions on the timing for a 1988 Fifth Avenue 318/2BBL. Both my Haynes manual and my owners manual say to find it in the engine compartment. I can't find it anywhere, but I think it used to be on the emission module mounted on the drivers side of the carb air cleaner. It looks like there was a label there at one time. Since I Googled for this info and found that the 318's settings were anywhere from 2 deg. to 16 deg. ATDC I thought I should ask around for some more specific info. I would appreciate any help on these specs, even someone with similar car model specs.

Reply to
Z28
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First step, throw away your Haynes manual, which is so full of wrong information as to be worthless. Get a *factory* service manual if you intend to work on your own vehicle.

No, that label just said "ELECTRONIC SPARK CONTROL". The emissions decal is located at the forward edge of the underside of the hood on a narrow strip-shaped decal, OR within the area of the underhood pad on a rectangular decal, OR atop the radiator support panel (directly in front of the radiator on a strip-shaped decal, OR (less commonly) on the left inner fender on a strip-shaped decal. In all cases, the decal is headed "VEHICLE EMISSION CONTROL INFORMATION".

No. The correct timing setting will not be ATDC, it will be BTDC. My '89

318 calls for 10 degrees BTDC, but it is a TBI engine in a truck, not a carbureted engine in a car like yours.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Well, the car had been smashed on the front end. So I thought that might be why the label was missing. I will look where you mentioned. I've been working on my own cars for years but this is my mothers car, so I used the Haynes manual because it was there. I also thought ATDC wasn't right but didn't have any info to back me up, but that's what I read at the Allpar website. The last Mopar I worked on was years ago, 1971 Dodge Challenger 383 RT to the best of my memory. BTW, I fixed that 'Electronic Spark Control' once, and it has been working ever since, a small solder corrosion problem. I just forgot what it was called and didn't want to sound too stupid guessing!

I'll check the places you mentioned and appreciate the info!

Reply to
Z28

Mitchell On Demand shows the timing spec for your 2bbl 318 to be

5-9 degrees BTDC at 680 RPM.
Reply to
Neil Nelson

I wrote that down, Thanks NN!!!

Reply to
Z28

OK, some more good advice. I will copy this info also and give it a try. 4 degrees BTDC sounds like a good starting place anyway. According to the other advice I got. Thanks!

I am really just trying to get the thing running smoothly, I reworked the distributor a while back and just marked the position without timing it after I replaced it. It seemed to run OK at the time and I was searching for a worst problem when I did that. Which ended up being the Electronic Spark Control. It is running poorly again now and I thought I should go ahead and check the timing while I did a tune-up.

Reply to
Z28

The gas octane was cow piss in 1988 too.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

ditto

Reply to
robs440

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robs440

Reply to
Ken Pisichko

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