How do I set the advance? How do I set the advance? What happens if the advance setting gets lost? What is the cause of an advance setting being broken? What is ignition timing?
What is Advance Setting?
The spark plugs help to burn the fuel in internal combustion and four stroke engines. The spark plug’s mouth is always open to high voltage, which produces sparks. This spark ignites the trapped fuel mixture and causes combustion. The heat energy from combustion causes the piston to be pushed down. This causes the vehicle to gain power, allowing it to accelerate. The spark plug must be at the highest compression ratio in order to ignite the mixture of air and fuel. This is the ideal advance setting.
For your vehicle to run at its maximum, the advance setting must be set in the right setting. This affects engine speed and efficiency. Engines with correct advance adjustment will burn the whole air/fuel mixture and produce the most efficient combustion event.
The advance setting refers the ignition of the sparkplug and the combustion event that occurs a few degrees prior to the piston reaches TDC (top dead center) during compression. In other words, advance adjustment is the adjustment made by the spark plugs within the ignition system to produce spark. This is also known as ignition timing. The piston must be at its top dead center or lowers before ignition can occur. If this happens, the pressure created by compressing the fuel mixture will evaporate and weak combustion events will occur. This causes engine performance to suffer and lower power generation. An engine that is properly adjusted for advance will produce maximum power.
How do I set an advance?
It is easiest to adjust the advance setting while the engine is still running. The advance gun is used to adjust the engine. It is not recommended, but it can be done. This adjustment can only be made by a crank pulley, eccentric caps, and spark plug guns. This is different for gasoline and diesel vehicles and injection and carburetor vehicle vehicles. It is best to avoid making any changes to areas other than those of the engine masters and service personnel.
The following is the initial advance setting.
The engine should be run until it reaches operational temperature. The idle speed and platinum adjustments are made. The vacuum advance connector on the distributor has been disconnected. Tape is applied to the exposed end of the disconnecting connection to prevent air from entering the engine. The blue end of the advance gun is connected to the spark plug of the first cylinder, the red end is connected to the “+” terminal of the battery, and the black end is connected to the “-” terminal.
The catalog value determines the first advance mark on the crankpulley or flywheel. This mark is chalked or painted. The engine should be started at idle speed. You must ensure that the idle speed does not exceed 60 mph.
The advance mark is lit by the light from the advance gun. When the advance gun light goes on, both advance marks should meet. If they do not meet, loosen the fixing bolt and turn the distributor body so the advance marks meet. To reduce the advance amount, rotate the distributor body slowly in the direction that the shaft rotates. Rotate the distributor body in the opposite direction to increase it.
After tightening all the nuts, the advance adjustment can be checked one last time. This control involves increasing the engine speed by suddenly giving off gas. The engine is expected to fall to idle speed. It is checked that the advance gun and advance marks meet when the engine slows to idle speed. If the marks meet, the advance setting will be normal. Replace the distributor vacuum pipe.
Causes of distortion in advance adjustment
Harmonic operation of all the parts is key to engine quality and health. We can also say the same about the ignition system. The advance settings can deteriorate if there is damage to an ignition part or a replacement of the damaged part. Due to the vehicle losing power due to the reduced fuel efficiency, the vehicle’s advance adjust will deteriorate.
What happens if Advance Adjustment is broken?
Because the vehicle’s advance adjustment is impaired, the air/fuel mixture can’t be fully ignited using the spark plugs. This can have a variety of adverse consequences that impact the vehicle’s performance. The following symptoms can result from the degrading of the advance setting.
- • Increase in fuel consumption,
- • Loss of performance in the vehicle due to the lack of ignition at the right time,
- • Lack of power when starting and accelerating the vehicle,
- • Inability to reach high speeds,
- • Ignition coil, spark plug and etc. Damage to ignition system parts
- • Gasoline and diesel fuel pump working harder,
- • Damage to flowmeter/flowmeter due to poor mixture,
- • Failure of fuel system parts,
- • Complete cancellation of the ignition system. (This is the most severe case and will require rectification.
