Im trying to set the timing on my 95 F350. 5.8L. I set cyl 1 to TDC and the mark on the harmonic balancer is no where to be found. When I cycle the engine and bring the cyl back to TDC there is still no mark. Am I missing something?

 

You say timing 'mark', singular. Are you looking for a chalk mark that someone already made at 10* BTDC or are you looking for the actual scale of marks that is etched into the balancer? You should be looking for the mars etched in from the factory. Look very closely at the top and slide underneath and look at the bottom of the balancer. You might need to scotch bright it a little bit if the balancer is in shabby shape. If you still can't see it, remove your fuel pump relay and bump the ignition. Keep doing this and rechecking the balancer until you see the marks. They ARE there.

 

Kinda rusty? Sometimes just wiping with a wet rag brings the marks to view.

 

Im looking for the scale on the balancer. Its to dark now but I sware I dont see anything like on my Mustangs 5.0. Well being a plow truck and I got a few yrs back its crusty so guess the mark is hidden. There is a Notch is on balancer but it doesnt line up with cyl 1. The notch is like where a key would fit in. If that makes sense. Base timing is 10* as I have been looking around. Correct me if im wrong.

 

Yes base timing is 10* BTDC.

Is this the notch you're talking about?


IIRC, that 'notch' is exactly opposite of 0*, ie, if the notch is at 12 o'clock, 0* should be around 6 o'clock. I might be wrong about that.

 

Yea the marking are there, not real deep into the steel and nope the grove is not it.

 

Ok hope that I can clean the crust off enough to see the timing marks. Stupid people dont wash trucks off after plowing. At least now I know to look on the otherside of the notch.

 

I went out this morning and I turned the engine till the notch was at the timing pointer and then using scotch brite I went over the area 180* from the notch. And I think I found the Timing Mark. Balancer is very crusty. Is their a scale on it? If not then I found it. Looked like this 0l0. If not then I must scotch brite more.

 

I actually took an engraver to mine last time I did it to deepen the notches. The painted up in white and recleaned notches. Really helps see them.

 

I actually took an engraver to mine last time I did it to deepen the notches. The painted up in white and recleaned notches. Really helps see them.

The marks r there you can hardly see them when new

 

So there is a scale on the balancer? Then mine is gone. All rotted away. I hope the 0l0 I saw was the 0* mark. I timed it with that. Runs good, so Ill see.

 

Yes there should be a scale of numbers on the balancer. If yours is REAL rusty then it could be gone. Make sure that if you're using that 0 mark that you're setting it about 10* away from that mark.

 

My timing gun has the advance on it. So i set it to 10, then got the line on the balancer to line up with the pointer. Does anyone have a pic of the scale.

 

The notch is actually a timing reference for a magnetic probe. The timing probe was inserted in the bracket with a tube like adapter seen on your picture. This probe is part of a large engine analyzer or a separate dedicated tool. I haven't seen many handheld timing analyzers with the probe. Milton used to make one many years ago. The timing analyzer or large engine analyzer measures and factors in the offset.

The notch is not a timing mark for a timing light. There should be a scale on the underside of the pulley. If the scale is gone you can always remove the distributor cap, remove spark plug # 1 and place a small, sealed paper cone in the spark plug hole and turn the engine by hand until the distributor rotor points to spark plug cable #1 and the paper cone has popped off. At this point, check that the piston has traveled all the way up in the cylinder. You can make your own mark at this time. Cylinder #1 will be at TDC in the compression stroke. This is 0° or TDC.

 

I did find a mark on mine. 180* from the notch. The mark I saw looked like this 0l0. A zero on 1 side, a line in the middle, and another zero on the other side.