what does it mean to retime an engine?and how is it done?

Question

i'm only changing my water pump and someone told me not to do it if i didn't know how to retime the engine,what does changing a water pump got to do with retiming the engine??

Answer 1

It means changing the point at which the spark plug fires the mixture of gas and air in the cylinder.It was pretty common in older cars with distributers however newer ones don't have that option with all the fancy stuff for pollution controls.Its pretty hard to explain because every car is a little bit different.You do need a timing light and I would recommend a Chilton's manual or contact a friend who is a good mechanic.Good luck

Answer 2

When you know how an engine works, moving engine parts are timed to be at a certain point at a certain time. Example When the piston comes up the cylinder toward the head - the top of its stroke, the valves(intake and exhaust) must be closed -otherwise the 2 metal parts will hit each other, and if they are not closed there is no way to create compression of gases.
Just before the piston reaches the top dead center of its stroke(from that point on it will be moving away from the cylinder head) an electrical impulse is sent thru the spark plug wire to the plug and it sparks which ignites the compressed fuel mixture, causing it to explode giving you a power stroke as the expanding gases force the piston down.
And so it is repeated on the next cylinder/piston/valves.
This is done after every tune up of the electrical (points, rotor and cambelt adjustment or replacement)

Answer 3

what u are doing is putting the #1 cylinder at top dead center to insure the fireing order. it depends on the age of the cars some newer cars do it there self by the computer in the car. but if it is a older car u can do it 1 of 2 ways.if u do it this way on a older car be care full. take out the #1 spark plug and get a screwdriver and rap a towel around it and get a socket to fit the harmonic balencer on the front of the engine it will bee the lower pulley that the belts go around put the screwdriver in the plug hole and slowly bring the piston up to top then look at the plug wire take off the cap and see if the button is pointing at the #1 wire make ajusment small . or u can get a timeing gun and hook to battery and #1 spark plug wire and start the car and point the gun at the timeing mark on the harmonic balencer and find the # your car calls for found in manual and mace ajusments to distributor

Answer 4

RE-TIMING
replacing the camshaft for a high performance one,in racing engines.

You put a degree-wheel in the crankshaft and an stop bolt in the cylinder one,through the spark plug hole,rotate the crank back and forward to see the "attacking angle" of the camshaft lobes in degrees and duration of valve opening time,overlapping of valves opening time ,exhaust and intakes valves.

warning ,do not confuse with engine timing,
for engine timing You only need an stroboscopic light and loose the distributor.
be careful,when using stroboscopic light ,the engine look static but is rotating ,do not stick You hands on it.

Answer 5

depending on car usually by advancing the timing chain/belt that turns your crankshaft that turns your pistons which your spark plugs send a spark too. If these two processes are not timed right then your engine will not perform properly