Timing

Ok im been looking all day long what should the timing be set to in a 89 CRX HF? the manual says look at the sticker under the hood but i dont see it anywhere.

There should be a little info sticker with picture of the vacuum lines on it. It's in the top, little to the left part of the hood.

The timing should be set by a timing light with it hooked up too the first spark plug wire (first one of the right) and battery. Then shine the light down towards the crankshaft pulley, there you'll see 3 little (I mean little) marks on the crankshaft. two white ones on both sides of the red in the middle. The little arrow indicator on the timing belt cover (big white piece of plastic) should point to the red mark.

If not, unscrew (just enough to loosen, but not out) the 3 little bolts that are around the dizzy (distru.) and move it back and forth till the red mark is in line.

Any more questions just ask.

Almost forgot, before you do any of this, you'll have to connect two wires together. Depends on what year you have though. Mines a '90 and there was little blue plug under my dash on the far right towards the door. Turn off the car, take a paper clip, bend it and but it in the plug and turn it back on. This is to not let the computer handle the timing, but you doing it manually. Not doing so before starting any of this will screw it up. Do it before you start.

88-89 wires are somewhere in the engine compartment but not sure.

Ok you know of any reason why the timing would be way advanced? My sister drove this car for years and nothing ever went wrong now i've been driveing to school and back and i check the timing and its It way way past the 3 marks. Actally the distrubuter it turned all the way advanced. Its always ran fine and has gotten close to 50 mpg. We got it back in 96 or 97 with just little over 100,000 miles on it and now its at 183,500.
And its still running great and getting great mileage. Any ideas?

Not trying to be pushy or anything but if you don't connect those two wires, then when check the marks, they will be off. If you've done that and checked and they are still off, then retard it some to get it in on the mark. But since you said that it's advanced all the way, wouldn't you hear a pinging of knocking sound since it's off. Mine did it horribly till I changed the timing.

the timing connector keeps the ECU from adjusting timing due to sensor input.

on 88 and 89 models, the plug is located in the driver side engine compartment. It will be a small plug with a rubber cover located up by the hood prop.

Yeah thats checking with the wire in the connector. No knocking or pinging, sounds and runs good. But i did back the timing off for a couple of days now, has less power and i got CRAPY MPG down in the 30's crapy.

Quick question... when doing timing, after adjusting the dizzy, double checking the timing and removing the jumper do you have to reset the ECU? It doesn't say in the pdf helms. Also, when you remove the jumper, should you cut the car off first or does it matter?
I realize these might sound like stupid questions but timing is something I've never messed with before.
Thanks.

Almost forgot, before you do any of this, you'll have to connect two wires together. Depends on what year you have though. Mines a '90 and there was little blue plug under my dash on the far right towards the door. Turn off the car, take a paper clip, bend it and but it in the plug and turn it back on. This is to not let the computer handle the timing, but you doing it manually. Not doing so before starting any of this will screw it up. Do it before you start.

88-89 wires are somewhere in the engine compartment but not sure.

Mines a 90' and I can't seem to find that little plug anywhere. :banghead:

Quick question... when doing timing, after adjusting the dizzy, double checking the timing and removing the jumper do you have to reset the ECU? It doesn't say in the pdf helms. Also, when you remove the jumper, should you cut the car off first or does it matter?
I realize these might sound like stupid questions but timing is something I've never messed with before.
Thanks.

1. Resetting your ecu is not required. That's why it didn't say to do it in the helms anyway. That's really what the jumper is for.

2. Turn the car off, take the jumper out and turn it back on. Never take it out while the car is running or it will ruin your setting cause the ecu will take control again. I forgot to turn my car off while having it in and actually drove to town. The worst mistake cause my engine was pinging so loud, people actually thought I had marbles in the exhaust pipe.

3. On 90's and up, the haynes manual for me sayed that there is a little blue plug on the right side of the dash. Took me a little time to find it but it is right up to the right side of the glovebox towards where the carpet ends under the dash. It might be taped to a wire harness so you might have to dig around with a flashlight to find it. It's no bigger than 3cm in width.

Hope that helps!

1. Resetting your ecu is not required. That's why it didn't say to do it in the helms anyway. That's really what the jumper is for.

2. Turn the car off, take the jumper out and turn it back on. Never take it out while the car is running or it will ruin your setting cause the ecu will take control again. I forgot to turn my car off while having it in and actually drove to town. The worst mistake cause my engine was pinging so loud, people actually thought I had marbles in the exhaust pipe.

3. On 90's and up, the haynes manual for me sayed that there is a little blue plug on the right side of the dash. Took me a little time to find it but it is right up to the right side of the glovebox towards where the carpet ends under the dash. It might be taped to a wire harness so you might have to dig around with a flashlight to find it. It's no bigger than 3cm in width.

Hope that helps!

found it thanks!