Long story short my timing very randomly changed and was off and i spent a week trying to figure out the problem. finally i found that it was the timing so i changed it back to 15 BTDC (I have done the timing bump) so it was running better now but not perfect and i have been driving it for a few days. The truck started running a bit worse so i got the timing light out again and it was way off.......When i first checked it, the timing was at 25 BTDC which doesnt even seem real that it was still running. so i unplugged the spout and changed the timing to 15, put spout back in and the timing was at 20. took out the spout and changed it back to 15. put the spout back in and its back to 20 BTDC. I took the spout back out when the truck was running at 20 and it dropped straight back down to 15 BTDC. So as for now i have the spout plug still out. what does this mean that the plug automatically advances the timing 5 degrees when i plug the spout plug back in?

 

Spout is computer controlled/advanced timing. It means the computer is choosing what it believes is best for your truck to run at

 

Thanks for your help. Does anyone know why my truck wants to run at 20 BTDC then? Ive never heard it ping before but i feel like my truck isnt running as well. And now my starting issues have come back. The truck struggles to start, I had to try turning it over 15 times this morning before it fired and it always has a rough idle and acts like it wants to die when the engine is cold.

 

It's doing what it's suppose to. The spout plug is what allows the computer to advance the timing. The reason you take it out to set base timing is so that the computer won't try to compensate for your change to base timing. Driving with it unplugged is going to make it run lousy. If your truck ran fine before when it had 15 btdc base timing, something else is wrong. If it always ran lousy, put it back to 10 degrees and see if it improves. But the advanced timing is normal if the computer is doing its job.

 

Thanks guys that clears it up a lot better. Now my question is when does the base timing come into play if the spout is advancing the timing to 20 btdc when its plugged in. The truck ran great when i did the timing bump in december and then one day i went to start the truck and it didnt want to start and it missed at low rpms and when the engine was cold. last week is when i started messing with the timing and i retarded the timing but when i did this i forgot to remove the spout. but after doing so the truck always started the first time but still missed when the engine was cold but ran great when the engine warmed up. Maybe it really is missing at high rpms but i cant feel it. any thoughts?

 

If the timing is set right and its still starting and running rough, you might want to have your icm checked. On my truck its mounted on the distributor and they are prone to heat fatigue and failure.

 

I just had my icm tested last week when all of this started. They tested it a few times and it checked out ok everytime. mine was located on my driver side fender though. the best luck i have had so far with fixing this is when i retarded the timing with the spout plug still IN (i had forgot to remove it). after i did that it ran real strong and fired up pretty well and easily. it slowly began to start just a little slower after time though and it still kept the really rough idle while warming up but ran real strong when warm. what changes does it make when you turn the distributor with the spout still in?

 

I would think if you only changed it a little bit nothing would happen, as the computer would try to correct the change. But I'm really not sure. But if you unplugged it and reset it to the correct timing, that should have no effect now.