Ever wonder what exactly ignition timing is or does? Here is an explanation of ignition timing and demonstration on how to check it, and adjust it. I did a lot of this after my cam swap to dial in the perfect setting.
I have a 1999 D22 King Cab Frontier 4x4...with a 5 speed. Making my little overlander. Tacomas on Hi/Low didn't even have an LSD! wtf... Thank you Nissan for setting the truck up right!
He bro I just subbed because of this clear and simple video explanation. One question what could cause my distributor in my 1999 vg33 pathfinder to fail I'm about to install the 3rd one. The original one went out and I saw the barring shavings all inside . So I got a Chinese one but it came with what I think was a faulty Camshaft position sensor and burned out my ignition coil. Now I'm hesitant to install the 3rd one. Any thing I should inspect before installing the new to ensure it last a few years? Thanks again
Bearing is the moat common failure on OEM ones. Chinese parts are never known for reliability with sensitive electronics...you want it to last? Buy an OEM one if they are still around. Buy once cry once. Otherwise try rockauto and look for a brand you recognize. Avoid generic Amazon type parts.
Luis Rodriguez hey, my distributor seized and shattered teeth on camshaft. paid 1500 to change camshaft. i didnt do tgis but have read it recommended to change new distributor gear to plastic or i thi k its brass , basically to a softer material, so that if bearing fails, it wont do to your cam what it did to mine!
Would having a bad 02 sensor throw of ignition timing? I timed mine before I replaced 2 o2 sensors. Been 2 weeks now since I replaced them. Checked timing again and its showing it off. Like way off! So I adjusted it again per your instructions and service manual. I've now gotten rid of that shutter, and it seems to shift better too. I'm about to go for a long drive. So we shall see what's up.
unplug the tps plug and adjusted to the middle mark but after connecting the tps plug the mark shoot off from the middle marking so is that suppose to happen?
Hey Rob I thought my distributor was installed wrong, was running fine, I took it out like a idiot installed it, put it at TDC, won't start anymore battery terminals hot. Now doesn't matter what I do with the distributor dead like a drained battery. Maybe I burned out by the dizzy?
Degrees of rotation...like a slice of a pie. The shaft that spins controls the engine. You are timing the the spark to occur at a certain point...which is described and measured as how many degrees of shaft rotation for when the spark triggers. May be worth a Google search on what spark timing is because it's hard to describe in a comment.
I have a question. So, I replaced the timing belt but I didn't check the distributor. The thing is that my car started to consume more gas. I checked the distributor and it wasn't on any of the dots, so I put it in 15 degrees as the service manual says. When I connected the TPS again, I checked and it was on 10 degrees. Is it normal or should I check the distributor again but with the TPS connected?
The ignition timing we set by lining up the marks to 15 degrees is the "base time". Once sensors are in the loop the ECU will fine tune the adjustment + or - a few degrees depending on RPK, throttle position, etc. Always check and set with the engine hot, TPS unplugged, etc as described.
I have a big problem guys. I took out the distributor of my truck 2001 Nissan frontier. and I lost the time.😢 I put it back in. It didn’t wanna turn on no more. What can I do?
The bottom of the distributor has a gear that mates with the front of the cam shaft. If you take it out ... You need to remove the cap of the distributor and see which way the rotor is pointing before removal to clock the shaft correctly on reassembly. If you didn't do that before...you need a big wrench (26 mm I think) to put on the bottom crankshaft pulley bolt...and turn the pulley and entire engine over until the timing mark is pointing straight up on the vehicle at the timing indicator. When that timing indicator is showing 0 degrees...the distributor rotor should be pointing at the terminal for spark plug wire that goes to cylinder 1... Which is the spark plug on the passenger side closest to the front bumper.
Hope that all made sense but you basically just gotta know which way the rotor on the distributor needs to be pointing...but since your engine position is whatever random position it stopped in...use a long wrench to turn the engine all the way around to the known top dead center position for cylinder 1 and clock the distributor pointing at the spark plug wire for cylinder 1. That should get you going again.
I have a number of videos talking about my truck you can look through...but Rims: stock 15x7 snowflake alloys. Tires: 33x10.50 BF Goodrich MT KM2s. 3" suspension lift, 2" body lift.
What do you mean? TDC is the left most timing mark on the crank pulley and at that point, the rotor on the ignition distributor should be possible nying at #1 spark plug wire...which is passenger side front of the engine compartment for the plug...follow the wire back to distributor cap. Is that what you needed?
@xterra Rob, Thank you for this Video. Can you please help me with this question. I have a 1999 pathfinder, which looks very similar under the hood to Xterra, can just suddenly won’t start after I parked the night before. I check ignition, spark is ok, I check fuel and it’s good, battery is good. The car cranks but won’t start. Could this be a camshaft sensor? It’s been a month since it went dead. Please I appreciate your help. Thanks
I have a 2000 Xterra SE 3.3l I have to change my distributor because the camshaft position sensor is going bad, does that mean that I will also have to redo the timing on it? Or can I just put the new distributor in, in the exact same way the old one came out?
Carefully marking and checking to make sure new distributor is clocked the same way as the one you're removing before installing should get you close enough.
After I did my cam shaft install I had my distributor off by a full gear tooth. Ran terrible with check engine light codes and lots of misfires. Blatantly obvious I done goofed. No damage though. It will be obvious if something goes wrong. When putting the new distributor in, the trick is the gear on the cam shaft and the gear on the distributor shaft are helical. You kind of have to twist the shaft to get it out and back in. So when you first insert the distrubutor gear, it will look like the marks arent lining up. But then it rotates into the final position. Takes a little finesse, but not too bad.
rob, im in deep sht,, we pulled 3 of the injectors today, & it DOSENT WANT TO START/ SHAKES/ drips fuel FROM THE EXAUST/ & STINKS LIKE GAS!!! heeeelp!!!!!! im broke down along a road side!!
Oh no! Did you replace the injectors you pulled or just removed and clean? What you describe is what my Amazon fuel injectors did to my truck. Its either the wrong injector flooding the engine, or the rubber seals aren't sealing off properly. Did it just randomly start doing it, or was it immediate after you removed and replaced the injectors? Could potentially be a faulty fuel pressure regulator...did you remove or do anything with that? As a side note, if youre in the USA where AAA services...its well worth the 60 bucks a year or so for free towing. Ive definitely made my money back. Thats my insurance for driving old cars.
@@XterraRob never use cheap amazon injectors, there are some decent ones , but the cheap ones have the wrong injector nozzle size. even the dealer lists 3 different injectors for my 2004 frontier vg33e. indicated by a paint dot on the injector connector. mine are silver
Hey XterraRob 👋🏼. I’m seeing a P1105 showing up on my Frontier. Do you have any idea where that sensor is for that code? Any help would be appreciated please
Hi there! xterra rob I have a question since I bought a 2000 year 2000 SE v6 3.3 4x4 for 1,250 dollars I would like to ask you if it was a good price by the way it is in perfect condition and the interiors as new
Hey love the video I just had the valve cover gasket change o my xtetta change but now I notice it vibrates at idle and slow acceleration what's u think might be
Is it a new problem, that just started after doing valve cover? My guess would be an air leak in the intake manifold gasket or throttle body since that was the system removed to get to valve covers. There are also some small rubber hoses on drivers side for evaporative emissions...if you leave those hoses off you could create and air leak. Any check engine codes?
Blinking check engine light indicates a misfire. Check the code...likely P0301, 302, 303, 304, 305 or 306. That will tell you which cylinder is missing. Good place to start is spark plug wires and make sure they are securely snapped on, especially cylinder 6 which is at the fire wall behind intake on drivers side. Its a pain to get to.
@@XterraRob I have to time it. But I got her close. Feels a bit advanced , so put 93 in it just until tomorrow. Looks like the original dizzy lasted 250k!
I guess I didn't "reset" everything after timing. Jumped on the interstate and couldn't get over 55mph. Got a code for some gear not in sync or something? Also when it was shift into 2nd gear it really struggled and sorta jumped into it. I've shut it off, cleared the code, and seems to be good now? Funny thing is I nolonger have a code for the bank 1 02 sensor. Is that normal? I've heard sometimes you'll get an 02 code with a bad dizzy.
Which code #? Dizzy could have been off by a tooth. That causes all sorts of rough running. When the 0 degree timing mark is aligned vertically, the spinning rotor needs to be pointed at the #1 spark plug wire on the distributor cap. Let me know if that makes sense.
@@XterraRob yeah once I reset the computer by disconnecting the negative cable everything went to normal again. Pretty sure I was driving around in limp mode. I have it timed perfectly now. But man these trucks are slow. Im assuming that's just how it is right?
Great info! I need help sir. Seems all my research shows 15° of timing... anyway here's my problem. I had the engine swapped out. A water pump installed bent all my valves. Anyway that was a huge hit in my wallet. New/used engine, and it runs strong and super fast unlike everyone else in here's comments. I have no doubt I can pull a boat with it. Anyway, my problem is this. On 1st start up for the day, especially in cooler nights. I get what seems to be a hydrolock like behavior, where the starter will stall out upon spinning, I burnt up a starter already, and I'm on a new one currently, seems like the compression stroke is Having a collision? Enough to stop the starter in its tracks! It's been doing this for 2 years now. And I'm starting to run out of ideas. New distributor, plugs, wires, doesn't smoke, doesn't use coolant, I get 300 miles per tank, average 280 when I need the air conditioning, I've set my timing at 15° since the 2000 xterra manual says that. But I have no idea what year my used engine came out of. So who knows what my timing should be at. And lastly once it's been started the rest of the day it starts without a problem, runs smooth. No roughness at all, plenty of off the line ripping torque! And she'll cruise at 90mph easily on the hwy, with barely any throttle. I'm the original owner of this truck. It now has 230k I wish I never paid that mechanic to change my water pump and timing belt. The truck was 100% perfect before he ruined my engine. Now I have this problem, and I can't figure it out. Nor can my mechanic. Who's gone over the timing Mark's and swears up and down it's dead on. It will hydrolock for only about 2 to 3 try's of turning the key, and it fires right up, and the second it starts, there is no rough stumble or anything to indicate water or leaking injectors into the combustion chamber. Like how a wet plug would have a miss for a few seconds or something.... this doesn't do any of that. So I'm so confused. I let it go for so long. Cause it just runs so darn good besides that starting lock issue. I was wondering if the compression stroke was wrong? Like the manual says to make sure the #1 piston is on its compression stroke when setting. So I was thinking about the swing example you said. Maybe my I'm firing as the pistons on it's way up? And stops the rotation in its tracks? But wouldn't this keep happening once the engine fired up? And making it run poorly? I just don't know.... please help! Sorry this was so long. I appreciate your knowledge. I'm subscribing now.
Ok...youve done a lot. My first thought was injectors leaking down and hydrolocking with fuel...but then you said it doesn't have extra fuel or smoke/misfires. How confident are you in the timing belt of this new engine? I am thinking the starter motor is having a hard time overcoming the compression of the engine...which could be a mis timed cam shaft on the timing belt. Basically, the starter motor is trying to turn the engine over but it can't spin the crankshaft fast enough to actually start it. Once the engine finally starts, you have a lot more power pushing the crank, so you dont stall out when running. Ignition timing between 10 and 15 degrees would be fine...if everything is mechanically times correctly.
@@XterraRob thanks for the reply, so yes, he showed me the 3 Mark's as dead on... I just removed the #1 plug and stuck a 1/4" long extension and manually turned the crank. Waited till it was at its highest point, and took off the distributor cap, determined it was it was pointed right at the distributor plug. I looked at my old perfect distributer to see the dot and alignment mark, to confirm position at the set point of top dead center for installation, and I've determined that the rotor button points right at the electrical plug dead middle at top dead center. Of this sounds right to you I'll try whatever you think next. And did I mention I also replaced all 6 injectors with original new hitachi ones. That was a bunch to pay for! Sadly made no difference....
Ok...sorry it took a while to respond. I was kind of letting this problem marinate in the back of my head a bit to see what ideas I had. I am thinking of this at the most basic level assuming mechanical timing is good...the starter motor is not strong enough to turn engine over...sometimes. So in that moment, either starter motor is weaker than normal or engine has more resistance than normal. To address starter motor aspect...check battery cables, clamp terminals, battery health, etc. The other side is more complicated...what can cause more resistance for the engine to turn over? Unusually high compression due to mis timed valves, poor bearing quality due to lack of oil earlier in life? Maybe part of it is randomness of the crank position where engine previously stopped at: IE start of compression strokes is worst case whereas if the crank is at a position with more valves open, the starter can get up to speed faster. Non compressible liquid locking crank train...fuel leaking down, coolant leaking into intake from manifold or throttle body? You lose coolant at all?
@@XterraRob no loss of coolant. And the starter is now brand spanking new. I replaced it over the weekend now on my 3rd one. And it never stalls at the beginning of the cranking. It's like the 2nd or 3rd revolution of cranking. So that engine is already spinning, so it's stopping the rotating engine and starter at that moment... definitely not a weak starter or power / ground cable. Battery is new regardless, and so are my terminals and main ground and negative battery cable all new. This cars really clean. And really taken care of. I'm the 1st and original owner. I feel like if it was a voltage related issue, I'd notice it right from the moment I tried the key. Not after its gained momentum. But I'm not sure. That's why I'm begging for your advanced knowledge sir.... I am a mechanic. Mainly bmw. So I'm kinda lost. I've thrown every part I can at this problem.... and I'm not used to failing. But I just can't imagine what's happening. Besides compression lock? Like the swing coming at me and pushing at that moment and causing a violent collision... seems like it fires at the wrong moment.... you can feel the jolt as the engine stops Instantly at that moment. I'll post a video for you to see.
I have a lump on my arm, do you know what that is? lol! Thanks for the quick vid, I'm familiar with timing an engine but didn't have the specific Xterra marks so thanks for including the service manual pics. Very helpful. Turns out the non-running Xterra I bought had the distributor one tooth off retarded (along with discovering it was a flood car- great). I too have a timing light I got from my dad, probably 1980s vintage, no inductive pickup but instead has a funny shaped coil you stick on the spark plug end and then put the coil wire on the top of the funny coil. But it works! Good luck.
My guess is a contusion from leaning on your radiator support while timing the engine! Thanks for the comment and for watching! Funny that yours doesn't have a clamp on pick up...but if it works...it works!
ECU. I think they are fed a constant 12 volts...and the ground wire goes to ECU. ECU logic gounds the circuit to spray the fuel and disconnect ground to turn it off.
@@XterraRob have you read or heard anyone els have this happen to them. Please watch my last video sorry for the cursing in the video but I'm at my end lol
@@calambres6614 old trucks suck. Have you chcked your injectors electrically? IE: engine off and unplug. Use multimeter to check ohms across the terminals on the injector side. Other than that...use multimeter and check for 12 volts on the wire harness side. I have another video that shows how to replace injectors you can watch. Either the dead injectors have no 12 volts to them, the electrical path is broken internally, or the ground side circuit to ECU is broken...or the ECU is malfunctioning, but that is rare. Google search for Nissan Xterra FSM and you can find pdf files of the factory service manual with more detail and schematics.
Never personally done it...but it should be the same. Double check if you see a decal or service sticker that has the timing on it ..but 10 degrees is a good starting point.
I was setting mine up too 0 5 10 but he I set it up at 10 good then it jumps too 20 20 20 then goes back down to 10 what’s going on he’ll me out bro barely bought the truck and lots of white smoke coming out of exhaust
Did you unplug throttle position sensor, get engine up to temp and rev it a few time? AC compressor turned off in the cab? It sounds like your ignition timing is not in the Base Timing mode for it to be adjusted. Do you have check engine light codes?
@@XterraRob I left it it to heat up didn’t rev then after like 3-4mun turned off then turned back on and unplug the cable while engine is on yeah my ac is closed also my heater hoses are done for so I think old guy just looped it and yeah I have p0300 misfire multiple on my truck
It sounds like you have something more than just misadjusted timing. I would first think of the distributor itself, which is known for a worn bearing that throws the timing out. You can also replace just the distributor cap very easily. Plugs and wires are pretty easy to do on 5 out of the 6 wires too.
Also...when was timing belt last done and are you 100% sure it was put on correctly. I accidentally installed my belt 1 tooth off and it did like what you deacribed. I had to do it all over and count each individual tooth on the belt to make sure it was aligned peoperly.
I set my timing to 15 degrees but when i plugged the bottom tps sensor back the i checked the timing again it was retarded from 15 degrees, is that normal after plugging the connector back?
Yes! You are setting what is called "base timing"...the default value of the ignition system without the computer making any adjustments. Once the sensor is plugged in, the computer takes over and adjusts +/- from the initial set point.
I did not because I change #6 whenever the upper intake manifold is removed for some other service (coolant lines, valve cover gaskets, etc). I don't mess around with the contortionist act to reach it and just swap it out whenever the intakes already removed.
