Just realized I've been setting timing wrong for years after a job in Flagstaff

I was working on a high-mileage Ford 5.4L in a shop up there, and the customer kept coming back with a rough idle. I checked my marks, thought it was fine. My old boss, Carl, walked over, put his own light on it, and showed me I was a full 4 degrees off because I was trusting the worn harmonic balancer mark. He said, 'The mark lies, the computer tells the truth.' Now I always verify with the scan tool data first. Anyone else run into balancers that are just plain wrong?

4 comments

4 Comments

seth_shah22d agoTop Commenter

Man, balancers can straight up lie lol.

skyler_jackson2722d ago

My buddy got told his place was perfect, then they ghosted him for weeks.

hill.margaret22d ago

Just gotta keep following up, it sucks but it works.

mark43619h ago

Honestly, I worked at a dealer in Phoenix and we saw this all the time. The balancer mark is just a starting point, it's not the final word. Tbh, I've found the computer data can be off too if there's a stretched chain or a jumped tooth. You really need to check the cam sync with the crank signal to know for sure.