Whats wrong with my 20V :(

[aarong420]

the car is very sluggish when i try to accelerate, it even back fired out of the intake when i tried getting the rpm's up with the airbox off. someone told me the timing is too much retard. i advanced it to 15D and hooked back up everything, but the car still drives very sluggish, it will give no power and all of a sudden start to pick up, and at high rev's it loses power again.
Was thinking maby its the cam timing, but how do i check it, or change it to the correct setting?

[ghost_ryder35]

get a timing light, sounds like your timing is off a few teeth, dont keep driving it like that

[aarong420]

Originally Posted by ghost_ryder35

get a timing light, sounds like your timing is off a few teeth, dont keep driving it like that

i have a timing light, its now set at 15 D, before it was at 10, but performance seems to be the same.
do you know the correct setting?,
What about my cam/valve timing?, is it possible the timing belt slipped a few teeth at high rpm? how can i check it and whats the correct setting?
Also the engine makes a tapping sound at idle, kind of like an old tappet engine. What can this be?

[punter]

10 BTDC is the factory setting, are you jumping Te1 and E1 connectors in the diagnostics port when you reset the timing?

What grade gas do you run?
They are very close to pinging on any thing less that 100octane (or 94 in the US)

[punter]

Originally Posted by aarong420

i have a timing light, its now set at 15 D, before it was at 10, but performance seems to be the same.
do you know the correct setting?,
What about my cam/valve timing?, is it possible the timing belt slipped a few teeth at high rpm? how can i check it and whats the correct setting?
Also the engine makes a tapping sound at idle, kind of like an old tappet engine. What can this be?

Cam timing is shown by dots on the cam wheel and notches in the cam cover.

The tapping noise could be a bearing on the way out, or could be anything else.

Find someone who's good with cars (or a mechnic) to come have a look at it, sounds like it has quite a few issues.

[aarong420]

well, the car works alright, i have the car at just before 15D, the gas here isnt so great, dont know the octane, ill have to find out.
one thing i notice, is other 20V's i know here always backfire when they shift gears at high rpm, my car doesnt do this atall. i dont know if its a good thing or a bad thing..i dont have a tach, but i think the limiter is coming in earlier than it should. is this because of the speedo sensor? its there but i have no speedo
also i find when i now start driving the car it needs to "warm up", befor it works smoothey. however i dont think its a cold start problem