V6, 3.0....engine at operating temp, T1 and E1 jumped. I seem to have decent power and idles fine.

Trying to figure out why the timing marks jump up or down 2 degrees or so at seemingly random intervals while the engine is idling. The timing is never totally stable.

What could cause this? Any guesses as to wether such a problem could be mechanical (something worn, sticky, out of whack) or maybe it is something electrical (computer interfering, bad dist, bad sensor, other).

The timing belt has less than 5,000 miles on it. Engine has new plugs, wires, battery, alt, dist cap, rotor...

Thanks

 

A loose t-belt could cause this. Try clamping the #1 wire far away from anything else. My timing light gets erratic readings if it is too close to the other wires. You could also have an aging distributor. I really wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. I've seen this quite a few times and I've yet to see a distributor fail unless it was run out of oil.