• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Spark advance problem

R

RAD Merc SVT

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
489
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Hey guys just installed an NPG cold air intake on my car I was very excited got on the throttle and my butt dyno told me it was considerably slower. it felt like second gear took ages to get up in RPMs. I decided to throw my SCT programmer on there to check everything out. Very pleased with the intake went from 142* with my open filter/heatbox to 110* with my NPG (tested right around 102* ambient) But the problem is I noticed my spark at cruising is around 24* advance and at WOT its at about 20* through out the entire rpm range, last I checked it it was at like 40* Any ideas? actually as I was typing this I thought maybe my IMRC isn't activating so I'll check that out and get back to you. Also this car does not have a knock sensor so knock retard is eliminated. Thanks for the help
 
If anything you could try to reset the ECM too. It's a good habit when bolting on new parts.
 
by resetting it do you mean disconnect the battery for a while let it power down and bring it back up? Or re-flash it? Also the secondaries are working properly and I noticed that the spark is actually jumping erratically example from 16 to 26 to 18 to 23 rapidly up and down only at WOT. I like to think I'm pretty proficient with diagnosing drivability concerns but I'm stuck here trying to determine if this is a tuning problem or a component problem (Mail tune from NPG). I never noticed it before but I never really got on throttle much. I'm thinking revert it back to stock tune and see if it has the same problem but results will be tainted by sensor readings being out of normal range due to excess air and fuel. MAF and TPS voltage are steady so maybe ignition coil or harmonic balancer.
 
I would try reverting to the OEM tune. I remember a similar problem someone was having at one point, it was a problem in the tune IIRC. I would rule that out.
 
2000ZxT said:
I would try reverting to the OEM tune. I remember a similar problem someone was having at one point, it was a problem in the tune IIRC. I would rule that out.
Click to expand...

Ah yea... Jon's old car. Who ended up buying that and fixing the issue??

Edit: Search and found SJon's old thread, FastFord bought his car and fixed it. I'd PM him to see what he has to say.
 
Last edited:
I got the spark figured out. It turns out the linkage was off on my LIM so only one bank was opening. Spark looks good (not sure what a good timing curve on these engines would be) Now it's just that my car falls flat on its face in the upper RPMs. Has great low end torque then I feel the secondaries open and there is just no power to pull it through the upper RPMs. The tune is from Joey everything looks good on it only thing I can't check is AFR. I'm thinking I just have to get it dyno tuned. I also might put my old 3.5" short ram intake on and see if the 3" CAI is restricting flow at all. Any other ideas would be great thanks
 
Probably a good time to unplug the battery and let the ecu clear like posted earlier.
 
Agree with the ECU reset. It has 'learned' to run based on the prior intake. It will eventually re-learn without resetting, but will likely take much longer. Also, I don't see any way the 3" intake is holding you back. The tune might need some tweaking in the upper RPM range with the new intake too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top