I'm a little confused about timing. Per the title, I have a 1994 F250 with a 460 in it. According to my chiltons and the online manual at

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it states that the timing is done by the TFI-IV system and that there are no timing adjustments to be made, and that none should be attempted. The Dura Spark system however it mentions that it can be adjusted. It mentions the vacume system connected to the distributor and how to go about adjusting it.

I haven't seen any vacume lines connected to my distributor, so I assume it of the TFI-IV style. Yet, on plenty of posts on this forum, there is mention of disconnecting the spout so that you can check timing and adjust to 10 BTDC if necessary. Yet, there is no mention of any of this in the chiltons or the only manuals I mentioned above.

So, while I understand that most of us learn to do a lot of things in the forums that aren't traditional and a bit on the 'Tweaking" side, I'm trying to figure out if timing is something I CAN check and adjust, or if it's a waste of time because of the TFI-IV. Thanks for the inputs. Later.... Mike....

 

You need to get the factory manual. Sponsors on this site sell CD's with the factory manual on them. You do need to disconnect the spout before you set the timing. I always turn the engine off when connecting or disconnecting the spout. Most people don't, I had a smog tech pull my spout with the engine running and then plugged it back in. The computer went nuts after that and I had to replace it. It may have been a coincidence, but I would rather not take a chance.

 

Question then: If you don't need to take the "spout" off to adjust the timing, why would we need to take the spout off at all?


I was researching timing for my 95 F250 460 and was curious about getting more performance.

Thanks

 

you have to take the spout off to know what your base timing is- otherwise the computer will try to compensate for any adjustments you make, and screw it up worse.

 

Thanks! What about the old way we adjusted timing - advance it until it begins to ping, then back it off a tad?


Appreciate the help!

 

thatll work just unplug the spout and set it.

 

Hey Darrin,


Sorry if I'm not getting it So I would unplug the spout, adjust the timing, drive it, make necc adjustments, then replug? Or replug before driving it?

Thanks!!!

Christopher

 

We will try this one more time Chris. Unplug the spout, set the timing, and reconnect the spout. Otherwise the computer will try to retime the engine according to parameters set by all of the sensors. If you try to drive the vehicle with the spout unplugged it will run like crap. The engine will be major retarded if you try to time the engine with the spout plugged in.

The idea of the spout is you unplug it and it takes the computer out of the circuit so that you can set the base timing. After that you plug the spout back in and the computer takes over and sets the advance according to the input it gets for all of the sensors on the engine. I hope this clears it up for you. Good luck Gary

 

Thank you Gary!!!! Sometimes it takes me a minute

 

Newbie question here, what is this spout you fellows are talking about? I am having serious timing problems with a very similar setup to this subject and would like to know what the heck is going on? I'm used to much older vehicles which have a vacuum line. This 460 has only wires going to the Distributor.

 

You would be much better off to start your own thread....but in the interest of helping out a newb

SPOUT location courtesy of Subford
Attachment 277411

 

That's the way I did it on my '97 F350 w/460. After having driven it for awhile in various conditions and adjusting as needed, I unplugged the spout and checked it. Mine liked 16 degrees...so I reconnected the spout and drove it.