Timing too advanced

1998 MITSUBISHI MIRAGE
143 MILES • 1.3L • 4 CYL • FWD • MANUAL
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CALLUM MORTON
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The car runs barely unless you unbolt the distributor and advance it past the point where it could still be bolted in. Once there it seems to run great.
Jul 28, 2016 at 8:44 PM
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CARADIODOC
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Sounds like the spark plug wires are in the wrong locations on the distributor cap.
Jul 28, 2016 at 11:57 PM
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CALLUM MORTON
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Weve tried moving them around and looked weve set it up with the numbers in the distributor but the way it is, is the only way when the car will actually start
Jul 30, 2016 at 1:01 AM
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CALLUM MORTON
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As well as that i just remembered something that may or may not be helpful once we advance the dizzy so that it idles well if we put in the gas pedal it takes a second or two before the engine seems to notice. That only happens once we've just advanced it so i do not know if it matters.
Jul 30, 2016 at 1:07 AM
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CARADIODOC
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The combination of symptoms sounds like the timing belt has jumped a few teeth. I would start by checking that.
Jul 30, 2016 at 1:40 AM
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CALLUM MORTON
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I have just put a timing light to it and if I am right by the timing marks its around 22 degrees advanced. does that mean i need to just get the cam belt reset?
Jul 30, 2016 at 2:13 AM
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RIVERMIKERAT
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Sounds like it, yes.
Jul 30, 2016 at 8:25 AM