RE: [alfa] idle adjustment

["Jeff Greenfield" <alfaguy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim -

If the advance mechanism were stuck and there was no advance (I've seen this
happen when cars have been stored for a length of time) it would run pretty
poorly, and have very little power off the line.

More typically, the advance weights/mechanism will get worn, and cause the
timing to not retard fully at idle. This will cause the engine to not return
to a proper idle speed. (IOW it will idle too fast after decelerating) This
is seems to more pronounced on cars with carb's for some reason.

Also, when checking the timing with a timing light at anything much faster
than idle, you will see the timing mark jumping around a bit at a steady
engine speed. If the advance mechanism is working correctly, the timing will
not jump around.

HTH,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-alfa@domain.elided [mailto:owner-alfa@domain.elided] On Behalf Of J.R.
Lehman
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 8:52 PM
To: alfa@domain.elided
Subject: Re: [alfa] idle adjustment

On Mar 16, 2004, at 9:37 PM, Jeff Greenfield wrote:

> Make sure that the advance weights in the distributor are working
> correctly
> and not hanging up. FWIW, almost all the cars I see these days have
> worn
> advance weights/mechanism  that don't work correctly.

Jeff, is there a quick method for determining if the advance mechanism
has worn excessively or is hanging up?  And what are the main symptoms
if  "they" don't work properly?  Poor idle?  Lack of power?  Or
something else?

Thanks,  --jim
'67 Duetto

/digest-contribution.html
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided