Alright, so first off I'm not the most mechanically inclined person in the world so I will do my best to describe what's going on. At the moment I have the distributer all the way advanced to make it run halfway decent. When it's timed to 0 the RPM is terribly low (250) and it backfires like there is no tomorrow. It has a very low throttle response and has little power. Another issue is when I take it out of gear it gets a surging idle but goes away with a quick tap of the gas. Along with a slew of other problems these are the main ones right now.

Well I suppose now it would be a good time to list some specs on my rig. It's a 5 speed '92 Pickup with a V6 3.0 EFI engine. Any other information needed just ask

 

Well it sounds like a TPS (throttle positioning sensor) issue. It may have to be re-adjusted along with your timing to get a nice idle and steady running engine. The specs on all this are on the forum somewhere and are also in the service manual. Also try cleaning your MAF. Whenever there's a problem just clean your MAF and get that out of the way. Also, the backfiring could indicate you need some new spark plugs or there's an exhaust leak, it could be off your block or could be a hole in the pipes somewhere.........WoW, you know what, just give the whole damn thing a tune up!..lol

 

distributer could be woen out??

 

Well that's just the thing, I gave it a tune up just about 6 months ago with new wires, plugs, cap, rotor, filter, the whole nine yards. Interesting that you bring up the hole in the pipes. When I brought it to a mechanic the first time he cut out my catalytic converter without telling me and he half ass welded a pipe in there. I finished up his terrible weld but there was about a half inch spot where I could barely get the rod. And that hasn't seemed like it's been a problem before.
The problems started when I got some gas one day, I figured it was a bit of water so I put some heat it in, ran it down, added more heat then put some premium gas in there but that never helped any.

 

are you setting the idle speed and timing with the appropriate terminals in the diagnostic connector jumpered (shorted together)?

 

You know, I noticed that in the repair manual but I've never had to do it with any of my other trucks so I figured it was no big deal. Now how does jumping the connections work, and what things do I need jumped?

 

Why in the world would you set the timing a 0* ???
That's not spec.



Fred

 

It's what a mechanic told me to do.

 

Run, fast and don't look back.
Your mechanic is totally clueless.
I don't know of any "normal" type engine with the timing set at TDC.

There's a sticker on the underside of the hood with the spec.
For instance, on my '95, 3.0, it's 10* BTDC.



Fred