So i wanted to adjust the timing on my truck. Bought a light, ended up buying new wires. cap and rotor while i was in there.

I was fine tuning it. Really trying to get it dead nuts at 5*. I was finally happy with it, snugged up the bolt and gave it one last turn and the bolt SNAPPED. Then, to add insult to injury, I touched the #1 wire and got shocked.

Anyway, I guess I need to extract it. Anyone have any advice? I've never had to extract a broken bolt on the engine block before. Do those bits actually work?

I guess I should get a torque wrench and start tightening things to spec

 

I believe the bolt goes all the way through the head so you can prolly take the valve cover off and twist the bolt out by hand.

 

First, it won't have snapped off in the block. The dizzy plugs into the head and drives off the cam. Second, where did the bolt snap off? Sometimes they will snap off and leave some threads exposed so you can grab it with a pair of vice grips.

If not, you will need to get an easy out kit. You will have to drill the remaining bolt then use the special bit to extract whats left of it. Get a torque wrench and remember, dizzy bolts only torque down to maybe 25 lbs or so, no need to crank on that bad boy.

 

there's hardly anything to grab onto. I'm going to give it a shot thought. If not remove the valve cover. If that doesn't work I'll extract it. Thanks for the advice!

 

There shouldn't be any tension on it if the head snapped off so you may be able to use a small SHARP chisel and hammer to turn it out.

 

no luck getting it out with extractor bit. Theres not much room for my 18v to fit in there and I can't get a really good, straight shot at is. My impact is smaller but was dropped off a roof and works poorly for anything precise because it 'walks' bits.

I just took the valve cover off but it started raining on me so I came inside to do house chores. I think I'll replace the gasket while I have it off. Never have had it (or any valve cover) off before. Anything else I should do while i'm in there? (dont say t chain)

 

Adjust the valve lash and check your timing chain guides, on 85+ blocks the timing chain guide is made of plastic and will break off after so many miles and cause the chain to break.

 

bought some feeler gauges and a gasket kit. Going to make sure everything is within spec tomorrow if its not raining. In the mean time- the timing chain has some play. I can move it quite a bit. The passenger side guide apears to be intact. Drivers side there is nothing guiding the chain from the front, only on the rear side, if that makes any sense. Not sure what it is suposed to look like but I think part may have broken because its not symetrical.

Also- how much play is too much? I can lift it slightly off the sprocket. Not the the point where I can see it jumping a tooth, but there is wiggle room. More so in left to right between the sprockets than anything else.

Also 2- I was unable to extract that bolt like I said before. None of the bolt is protruding on the other side to grip onto. I'm going to give the extractor another shot, and if that doesn't work I'll try to weld a nut on I guess...any other suggestions?

 

careful welding the nut on cause you don't want to weld the bolt to the head or burn the hole out.
and if you can find a left hand drill bit, that might make it easier cause if the bit starts to bind on the bolt, it should back it out.

 

So I was able to get it out without welding with some hex-based left handed drill bits on my impact. It wasn't really in there that tight!

Like I said above, I had bought a cap, rotor, plug wires and (after taking valve cover off to see if I could access broken bolt from that side) a valve cover gasket.

I put everything back together and my new parts on, and now the truck hesitates noticeably. Like if the the wires were bad. I put the old ones back on and it is the same. I haven't tried putting the old cap back on but I don't think it will do anything. Anything you guys can think of that I might have botched? I'm pretty sure I reconnected everything like it was. Timing is dead nuts 5* before TDC. Its drivable but even more gutless than it was before... i.e. doesn't really want to go anywhere with any amount of urgency. If I floor it it begrudgingly picks up speed.

I obviously did something wrong but I really can't figure it out. It's really frustrating me. Any suggestions or ideas are greatly appreciated!!!

 

Check your wires. Firing order is 1-3-4-2

 

they are leggitt. everything is going to where it should be. In taking off the valve cover and associated hoses could I have potentially pinched off a vacuum line or f-ed something with the efi up?

 

jump the test connector to set the timing?

 

not sure what that means. I set the timing with a light. With the #1 plug wire unhooked it shows 5* on the nose. Shows TDC when wire is plugged in but propper procedure is to read it with it unhooking i think.

Theres a white plug that is unhooked that comes from underneath the EFI unit that I just noticed. I'm going to investigate.

 

What? Who taught you that procedure?

Make sure all your plug wires are attached, then you need to jumper the T1 and TE1 terminals in your diagnostic box while its idling, and warm. The engine should idle down, and you will set your timing to 5 degrees before top dead center at that point.

 

The diagnostic box is under the hood, on the side of the fuse panel there, with a lid that says "Diagnostics" on it. On the inside of the lid is a diagram of which terminal is which.

 

also for more power set the timing to 7-10 btdc. you can use a paper clip to make a jumper out of for the t1 & te1

 

Thanks I appreciate the suggestions. REAL technicians would be much richer if people who are as mechanically inept as me didn't have a resource like yotatech and helpful people.

Logic behind procedure:
The instructions that came with my timing light say to "unhook wire #1 from cap, attach big black clip (not ground obv) to wire #1, start engine, plug empty port in cap, Point at crank wheel etc etc." Thats not verbatum but that's how I interpret it. The whole point of a timing light - as far as I can reason - is to strobe when your first cylinder is firing (IE TDC comp) to show you where your mark is in relation to the guide. My procedure cant be that far off, makes sense to me. As for the disconecting #1 not sure what the logic is behind that.

i'm about to search for info on "jumpering". Will let you know if it works. Thanks again!

PS i'm not pulling any codes. What does the diagnostic box have to do with setting timing??

 

diagnostic jumper puts the ECU into baseline mode so timing can be adjusted, otherwise, ECU is altering timing

 

next to the fuse box on the pass side under the hood there is a small box with a grey lid. open the lid, that is the diagnostic port.under the lid you'll find a lable that gives you a name for each plug inside. of those you'll se t1 and te1.insert paperclip into said ports. by doing this you have now prevented the computer from advancing the timing. you will be setting the base timing.