2E Ignition timing

[john court]

I have a 95 passat estate with a 2E engine with Digifant 1.23 ecu
A while back the distributor failed so I fitted a new one,timing by the rough guide given in the Haynes manual and then expected the auto adjustment of the ecu to fine tune it. I could not find any timing marks for a strobe so tried to improve running by moving dist to get best result. not very successful. Also played with idle screw and C.O.adjuster by air flow meter.
Bought a VAG-COM which showed no faults and the tickover timimg was fluctuating between 2 and 9 degrees maintaining 852 r.p.m
I moved the dist and it showed same angles and same revs.
Is the trigger pulse for the crankshaft position taken from the sensor in the dist, if so, the ecu effectively assumes the crank is wherever the dist says and vag-com reads from the dist position, irrespective of the crankshaft position:?

So,
How is the distributor set , then the tickover speed screw, then the c.o. -I may need analyser

[airevalley]

Hi .
the timing is ecu controlled , so dont think twisting will help much .
2e engines have the hall sensor in the dizzy which just tells it when to spark .
there should be an idle screw on the throttle body , take it out completly and check for wear on the end ( worn screws give poor idle ) .
the co, is then set via the screw on the air flow meter

[Crasher]

You can only set the ignition timing with diagnostic equipment such as VAG-COM and it needs to be a fully operational version where you can access basic settings 04. The timing is set with a timing light on marks on the flywheel against a pointer in the box. The marks on the flywheel are very faint so slowly rotate the engine a bit at a time by a spanner/socket (19-mm 12 point) WITH THE IGNITION OFF and find the marks and then highlight them. Then, with the timing light on, start the engine, go into engine 01, basic adjustment mode 04 and sub group 001 and then look in display zone 4 where you should see a row of eight zeros 00000000 . If there is a 1 in any of these positions you have a problem and the possibilities are;

01000000 = Signal from automatic gearbox control unit to Digifant control unit not OK.
00100000 = Air conditioner not switched off
00000100 = Throttle valve not closed
00000010 = Engine speed outside permitted range
00000001 = Coolant temperature below 85 °C

If you get eight zeros then you can proceed to check the timing is set at 6 degrees BTDC.

[john court]

I've v607 VAG-COM so will try in daylight
Does the idle screw have to be set with VAG-COM in basic adjustment mode to the 852 r.p.m the ecu wants to control it to when ecu is in normal running mode?

[Crasher]

They don't have an idle bypass screw; do not alter the position of the throttle stop screw.

[john court]

thanks Crasher,
timing was 3 teeth out on the flywheel starter ring
as for throttle stop and c.o. screw ,I had fiddled with both of them trying to make it run better before you explained 'basic settings' mode.
by patiently adjusting the 2 screws and watching the vag scope timing trace I managed to steady it to giving clipped peaks between 2 & 6 degrees.
It passed the m.o.t. with 'perfect' emission readings
Thanks for your help , it wouldn't have happened without you and I would probably had to scrap it after a main dealer quote!