hey guys, in my 2002 5.4 ive been running a lvl 2 tune with timing advance at 1.5 and was thinking if it could be safe to go to 2.0? how would that move my poweband? any other changes? i just aksed cuz of a post i saw earlier about runnin 87 octane and maybe a higher advance when runnin 89.(89 is all i run, its like 8cents a gallon cheaper...)

thanks
Adam M

 

I guess you could try it. When I tried advancing my timing 0.5, using the 87 octane canned tow tune, it caused my idle to "hunt". I thought I could get away with the slight advance since I live at 2500 ft. I set the timing back to 0 and everything was fine again. I took the wandering idle as a warning.

- Jack

 

Altitude has a effect too, .5 for every 2000 feet, I run a 2.0 advance on mine with 87@2600 ft. But its safe for .5 for every octane point increase, I personally run about 1.0 for each octane point, but thats me.

 

Yep Josh, that's why I tried the timing increase. When it caused the "wandering" idle, I harkened back to my days of setting static timing by rotating the distributer. I remembered that overadvanced timing caused a "funny" idle then too. So, I decided my timing was OK at 0 and put it back there.

As a side note, I used to have a 94 Toyota pickup (sorry, all you red-blooded, patriotic Americans)! It "pinged" under load in the summer from day one - I bought it new. So, I retarded the timing just enough to stop the pinging. It ran like a dog - no, more like a snail, now that I thnk carefully about it. So, I reset the timing back to factory spec, lived with the ping and finally sold it at 120K miles, still in great working condition! The only reason I sold it was that I wanted 4WD.

 

i did have a wondering idle when its cold and im parked down a boat ramp, but never had it any other time. i think i might just keep her where she is at....or any pro's or cons with going back to +1 timing from +1.5? elevation is around 1000 feet here.