help! i think i broke it[NG/NF ign. rough running]

[Alan Pritchard]

Ok, more details, plugs, cap and rotor are pretty new (ie 3000 or less). Car
was running fine for around an hour or so, until I tried some hard starts
(read 4 wheel spin hard!!!!) so imho it has something to do with the extreme
shock through the car... infact, it was so bad I checked my drive shafts
initially, expecting to see one flapping around. If the timing went out of
whack due to the t belt (guilty here, have not changed it yet, and don't
know how old!!!) I cannot see how the ecu would know that the timing has
gone bad, but would still try and time the engine as standard but x degrees
out..... I have a timing light to hand now so that is going to be my first
check. 
 
Best Regards,
 
Alan Pritchard,
Mechanical design engineer,
Network administrator.
 
Seaeye Marine LTD.
+44 (0)1329 289000
www.Seaeye.com
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Swann [mailto:benswann at comcast.net]
Sent: 25 February 2004 15:21
To: apritchard at seaeye.com
Cc: Doyt at buckeye-express.com; quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: help! i think i broke it[NG/NF ign. rough running]
 
I wouldn't go there.  The NG has fixed distributor and timing should not
deviate - yes you can advance this distributor, but not without trouble and
the ECU is supposed to take care of it.
 
Check all the other IGN related stuff out, incl. grounds to ign. booster if
no fix on wires, rotor, cap <- betting on this.
 
Ben
[Same thing happened to one of my cars about 5 years ago(1986 4000csq.) Very

disturbing.

I messed with everything under the hood trying to get it to return to
normal.

I finally got the bucking to mitigate but not totally go away by changing 
the spark plug gap to 45/1000.  The next week, I discovered that I could 
get the bucking to clear up by changing the spark advance about 2 degrees 
outside the book specifications.

I don't recall if it was clockwise or counterclockwise.

After the spark adjustment, I regapped the plugs to normal and the bucking 
stayed gone.

Doyt]