Where's the football?

[not turbo]

I'm trying to tune up the Bronco 2 (87, 2.9) and the Chilton's (and various web pages devoted to the B2) mention disconnecting the "football" near the distributor.

I've looked, and the only thing I can find remotely resembling a football shape is a small inline attachment near the alternator...it has a diode symbol on the side. It's about 1 1/2" long x 1/2" wide.

Any help on where the football might be?

thx

 

[410Fortune]

football?
Do you mean the timing pill? I assume you are trying to set the base timing and you need to remove the timing pil, so the computer no longer can advance/retard the timing?

The diode you describe sounds like the timing pil to me, grey in color, two prongs, just hanging on the wiring harness, however it has been a LONG time since I hada 2.9L or a distributor so I can not tell you exactly where to look, just that I have never heard it refered to as a football, just a timing pil.

 

[not turbo]

I've never heard it called a timing pill...

Yeah, that's the idea though--the computer does some funny business with the timing and disconnecting the thingy allows for a proper timing indication.

The diode thing is grey, and has three wires (two out one side, one out the other) but I didn't see any obvious way to unplug it. Does it pull apart?

It might also be called the "spout."

Source, Bronco 2 page

Source, The Ranger Station

Run until warm
Remove computer plug (spout) in wiring harness at the base of upper intake manifold
on passenger side of vehicle
Use timing light (10 degrees on timing mark)
Secure distributor bolt
Shut off engine and plug computer spout back in

I did find this on another site:

Originally Posted by Autozone
For your 1986 Ford Truck Ranger 2WD:

Timing Specification 10 Degrees


Before top dead center *Base timing specification *Set at warm idle speed (electronically controlled - not adjustable) *Disconnect single wire spout connector (yellow/light green) or remove shorting bar on double wire spout connector at ignition module (terminal #5) *All accessories off *Transmission in neutral (parking brake engaged)

 

[410Fortune]

my 2.9L was set to more like 14 degrees advance but I had ported intakes, boosted fuel pressure, MSD igntion etc and I live in Colorado
The timing pil is easy to remove, you just un plug it, so what you are looking at is not the timing pil, I believe the sucker is somewhere in the wiring harness either near the diagnostics port or near the upper intake

 

[not turbo]

Woot! I found it!

For future reference to other newbies, I offer this:

On my B2, it's on the passenger side, about midway of the intake manifold...it looked to me like just another test port (something that you'd hook up to a diagnostic tool).

But, after checking every wire/connector on the top of the engine and ruling out each one by one, I finally was forced to consider "maybe this is the one".

It's a small rectangular dead-end connector, two yellow wires coming out of the same end, and a cap on the other...take off the cap, and you see two "blade" connectors for the two wires. AH-HA! If you take off the end-cap, the engine runs noticeably rougher, and the engine behaves "normally" as you adjust the timing (speeds up, slows down, rougher, etc). Now I could adjust for a 10^ ignition....plug the end-cap back in, and test drive indicates all A-OK!


Woot!