Retarding Timing In Distributorless Systems

[Explorerdude]

Hey guys,
I found out a bit of interesting information about the timing system in my 94 Explorer this evening and I thought you all would be interested in hearing it.

A good friend of mine is a certified Ford technichian. I was talking with him tonight and asked him if he knew of anyway to advance or retard the timing in my truck. I figured that he would, like everyone else I've spoken with, say that there wasn't anyway possible to do this..

Well I was suprised to find out that yes you could retard the timing. He said that their is a gray plug that I believe is located near the ECU box on the passanger side firewall. He said you unplug this plug and it will retard your timing by 7-10 points. However he said on some trucks this plug is located near the coil. He said that Ford installed this plug because in high mileage trucks they had problems with pinging when cheap gas was used.

I am interested in hearing what information he finds out about advancing the timing. I figure if Superchip can do it why isn't there another way to. I'd think that there would be a code you could enter into the computer that would force the trucks timing to be retarded or advanced...

Comments are appreciated.

Hope this information is useful!

Happy Wheelin',

Joe

 

[Ira]

Joe,

This is what is called a shorting block. The only problem, if you use it to retard your timing, look for a loss in power along with probably a 20% or more decrease in fuel economy. With today's fuel prices, it would be better to fix the problem if possible instead of using this to retard the timing. From what I can remember, this was placed there to aid in some of the diagnostic tests at the dealership.

 

[flyguy]

Really? I gained 1hp by pulling the plug. Go figure. Of course, Im slightly modified....

nick