Timing not advancing

[swervyjoe]

'84 F250 6.9 in the sig line.

So, I was checking my timing yesterday with the Ferret adaptor and Actron digital timing light. Its showing 6.5 degrees at idle and at 2000 rpm. Theres no advance. The RPMs and strobe all stayed steady so I believe i'm getting a good reading. Do I need a new IP or is there something that can be done to fix the advance. Whats the timing at idle supposed to be? The pickup seems to run well and starts fine. I'm getting 15 mpgs mixed. I do get a good bit of white/greyish smoke under hard accel.

 

[hesutton]

Are you saying at idle the timing mark on the front cover is lining up with the mark on the balancer at 6.5 BTDC and at 2000RPM?

What exactly are you doing when using the ferret and timing light.

Heath

 

[swervyjoe]

Thats it. I hooked up the ferret like in the tech section. I aimed the light at the mark to see if if the marks were going to be clear. The light was at zero degrees. I advnced it to line up the marks. That put me at 6.5 degrees. I reved the engine to 2000 rpms the light was still at 6.5 degrees. The marks stayed lined up. Changing the advance on the light moved the dampner line out of alignment accordingly. Ive timed gassers before. This is my first diesel. Its like an unplugged vacuum advance on a gasser.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Rev the engine to 2000 RPM, set the advance on the strobe light to 8.5 or 9 degrees, if the dampner line doesn't line up with the timing plate 0 line, stop the engine, then twist the IP to the left (passengers side), tighten the IP nuts, repeat until the lines match up.

1st pic shows strobe set to desired degrees BTDC.

2nd pic shows RPM at idle, but speed up engine too 2000 RPM, the correct RPM for timing the engine.