Timing Mark in engine bay...

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BigSur

BigSur

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Per the Haynes there should be a timing light mark somewhere around where the thermostat cover is and i can't find it anywhere. I am trying to do the time on a 83' 60. Can someone point me or maybe even take a picture of where the mark is?

Thanks

Jason
 
It's actually just above the starter, toward the back of the engine. There's a little porthole with a cover that slides over it.

As for the marks, there are two - one is a line, which is TDC, and the other is a circle, commonly called the "BB" - that's the 7 degree mark you'll need to hit to get her timed correctly.

Best thing to do, if it's not done already, is to slowly turn the engine over (remote started switch) until you can see each of the marks and highlite them with some white paint. This will help you see the marks more clearly when you get the strobe on it.
 
swank60 said:
It's actually just above the starter, toward the back of the engine. There's a little porthole with a cover that slides over it.

As for the marks, there are two - one is a line, which is TDC, and the other is a circle, commonly called the "BB" - that's the 7 degree mark you'll need to hit to get her timed correctly.

Best thing to do, if it's not done already, is to slowly turn the engine over (remote started switch) until you can see each of the marks and highlite them with some white paint. This will help you see the marks more clearly when you get the strobe on it.
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Man what a PITA!!! I have been slowly cranking the engine trying to find the other mark on the flywheel "BB" and i still can't find it. I'll try again in the morning when i am a little bit more calm. Luckily my kids were at the gym with the wife cause there were alot of 4 letter words being thrown around.

Jason
 
Cruisergreg said:
The other best thing ti do is throw away the Haynes manual - it'l cause you more grief than benefit.
Click to expand...

What he didn't mention is that you should buy the FSM set from the Toyota dealer or SOR.

M
 
youre trying to stop on the magic number on the roulette wheel if you are trying to get the bb to show in the window when stopped using the bump start method.

Put the truck in 3rd or 4th on a LEVEL surface and gently nudge the bumper with the parking brake off. the crank will turn slowly with a little pressure and you can spot the BB. Once you find it, take a white paint pen and clean off a spot on the front crank pulley and put a mark on it you can reference easily. Then you can push a little hard and pay less attention until the white mark is in the ball park of where it was when the BB was at the pointer.
 
Also, pull off the distributor cap so you know when the rotor is near the wire for the #1 cylinder. That way you'll know when you are in the ballpark (they still have rotors and stuff that year, right? :o ).
 
First i want to thank Cruiserbrett for the suggestion of putting the truck into 3/4 gear and slowly pushing the truck back. I found the small "O" in 10 minutes.

Swank this is what i did and tell me if i did it correctly. This was my first timing check so bare with me. I took some chalk and marked the needle and the "O". I turned the truck on to let it warm up to operating temp. I took timing light and saw that the lines weren't even close. I still saw the needle but the other mark wasn't even there. BTW i connected the timing light to the first spark plug wire. Since the marks weren't close i losened up the dizzy and moved it a lil'. Then the marks were closer but no cigar. I did this a couple of times till the two lines were even steven. One on top of the other. Put the cover back on and called it a evening. Now the only question, Is my timing where it should be? Is it correct?

Thanks

Jason
 
Or pull the number one spark plug and with a BRIGHT flashlight or LED light watch the piston approach the top and listen for a "puff" of air come out (compression stroke, baby.) You can see the top of the piston at TDC.
 
Did you pull off the vac advance from the dizzy and plug the line? You should remove the vacuum hose from the advancer port closest to the distr. and plug it and also make sure you're idle is less than 950rpm per the service manual. Once it is set reconnect the vacuum hose and then pinch off I think the lowest vac hose on the HAC and it should kick on the vac advance and advance the timing. I think this is the recommended check for the advance mechanism. Don't quote me on this, I loaned out my FSM and am going from memory.
 
Does your timing light have a digital advance?
 
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My light does not have a digital advance. OK now ya'll have me thinking. regarding the 7 degree advance what exactly does that mean? Do i not want to line up the TDC needle to the " O" ? I feel like i am doing someing wrong now.
 
It is weird - you want to line up the mark on the motor with the "O" - the "|" is TDC, and the "O" is 7 degrees.

And Chitown is right about the vac advance plugging; I don't remember exactly what you are supposed to plug either, but it's one or both of the vac advance lines that run to the dizzy. If you have the FSM, that'll tell you exactly what to do. I'm not sure if the Haynes manual outlines all of that or not.

And 7 degrees BTDC means that the the spark plug fires 7 degrees before the piston makes TDC. That maximizes the firing and compression.
 
I want to clear up some confusion in the past. If you have a advance on your timing light you still just leave it on "0" and align the BB to the mark. The line on flywheel is at 0 or TDC so the BB is 7 degrees from that line already?

Chewbacca groan.......
 
BigSur said:
Per the Haynes there should be a timing light mark somewhere around where the thermostat cover is and i can't find it anywhere. I am trying to do the time on a 83' 60. Can someone point me or maybe even take a picture of where the mark is?

Thanks

Jason
Click to expand...


The mark is hard to see on an old fly wheel. Take off the lower bellhousing cover and turn the engine with a breaker bar and 1 13/16 or 46mm i think. You can get a better look at the mark on fly wheel with bellhousing off, clean and hand paint mark in neon. Put the bell housing back on and set timing. I heard that you can remove #1 spark plug and put your finger over the hole and turn engine manually when you feel compression your close to TDC. :beer:
 
NocalFJ60 said:
I want to clear up some confusion in the past. If you have a advance on your timing light you still just leave it on "0" and align the BB to the mark. The line on flywheel is at 0 or TDC so the BB is 7 degrees from that line already?

Chewbacca groan.......
Click to expand...

That's right.
 
chitown40 said:
Did you pull off the vac advance from the dizzy and plug the line? You should remove the vacuum hose from the advancer port closest to the distr. and plug it and also make sure you're idle is less than 950rpm per the service manual. Once it is set reconnect the vacuum hose and then pinch off I think the lowest vac hose on the HAC and it should kick on the vac advance and advance the timing. I think this is the recommended check for the advance mechanism. Don't quote me on this, I loaned out my FSM and am going from memory.
Click to expand...
A word of warning: I seem to recall that there is a different timing adjustment procedure when the truck is being worked on at high altitude (with a working HAC). IIRC it involves removing and plugging the outer (HAC) vacuum line while checking the timing.

The gotcha I seem to remember is that this alternate method is only described in the Fac Emissions manual.
 
Cruisergreg said:
A word of warning: I seem to recall that there is a different timing adjustment procedure when the truck is being worked on at high altitude (with a working HAC). IIRC it involves removing and plugging the outer (HAC) vacuum line while checking the timing.

The gotcha I seem to remember is that this alternate method is only described in the Fac Emissions manual.
Click to expand...

Yep, you remove both vac lines from the dizzy and plug them. This takes all the advance out of play and you can go ahead and set the timing. Once it's set, you reconnect both vac lines and then pinch the lower HAC line to test the vac advance.
 
another way to find tdc

make a simple fitting from an old sparkplug housing, attach clear tubing and run into a jar of water. Bubbles come out on compression, stopped at TDC and started sucking up water immediately after TDC. work the crank back and forth slightly a couple times to get accurately centered. Easy to see the water level position inside the small tubing


not my idea, but passing it on
 
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