1 male terminal rod on the spout is missing?

[BLK BRD 88]

When I bought the car the spout was disconnected and the harness end was tucked away and hidden from sight.
A friend finally helped me find it the other day so I hooked it together with the distributor end. The car ran terrible with it connected.
I bought a timing light and when connected it has about 28º btdc advance at idle. and when revved it goes way up past the hash marks.
With the spout unhooked the timing is at 12º btdc at idle, and I get absolutely no centrifugal advance when revved up.
I put my magnifying glasses on and can see that one of the two terminals in the male end of the spout that comes from the distributor is missing.

My questions are:
Will the distributor half of the spout from any 2.3 work or does it have to be 2.3 turbo or 84 SVO specific?

Should I be getting some centrifugal advance from within the distributor & if so, how much?

Anyone on here have the correct spout with yellow wire for sale?

Maybe I need to buy a new distributor, or at least new internals for mine?

I sure would appreciate any help that I might receive from any of you on this problem.
Ron

[Mike S]

Your description indicates that the spout is indeed working. With it disconnected, the timing will remain where set by rotating the dizzy and locking down the bolt. When the spout is connected it should jump at idle to ~30 BTDC. The spout is only a jumper connection, nothing special about it. The advance comes from the TFI. The spout closes the circuit to enable that function.

[MikeFleming]

What year is the car? There were two different SPOUT connectors. Early ones had a single wire with an in-line connector - large, round thing. Later ones had a two-wire connector and a pill - looked like a small fuse connector. You can install any type of 2-wire connector you so desire. Make sure it's weatherproof.

There is no mechanical or vacuum advance - it's all electronic. Other than gear and shaft play in the distributor, the timing will stay the same at all times when the SPOUT is not connected. DO NOT drive the car or put the engine under any load with SPOUT disconnected. SEVERELY high EGT values will result.

On a PE (85.5+ SVO) with base timing set to 10 BTDC with Premium mode selected, the timing will increase +20 degrees with SPOUT connected and throttle closed. This is expected. When throttle moves to part throttle mode, it will jump ten degrees immediately. At 2500 RPM part throttle, expect the timing mark to be in the 45-50 BTDC range. Normal. Non-Premium (Unleaded) mode subtracts six degrees.

Get an advance type timing light so you can measure what it really is. 40 degrees is somewhere under the water pump pulley.

The pre-PE EECs has about 5 degrees less timing under no load conditions.

[BLK BRD 88]

What year is the car? There were two different SPOUT connectors. Early ones had a single wire with an in-line connector - large, round thing. Later ones had a two-wire connector and a pill - looked like a small fuse connector. You can install any type of 2-wire connector you so desire. Make sure it's weatherproof.

There is no mechanical or vacuum advance - it's all electronic. Other than gear and shaft play in the distributor, the timing will stay the same at all times when the SPOUT is not connected. DO NOT drive the car or put the engine under any load with SPOUT disconnected. SEVERELY high EGT values will result.

On a PE (85.5+ SVO) with base timing set to 10 BTDC with Premium mode selected, the timing will increase +20 degrees with SPOUT connected and throttle closed. This is expected. When throttle moves to part throttle mode, it will jump ten degrees immediately. At 2500 RPM part throttle, expect the timing mark to be in the 45-50 BTDC range. Normal. Non-Premium (Unleaded) mode subtracts six degrees.

Get an advance type timing light so you can measure what it really is. 40 degrees is somewhere under the water pump pulley.

The pre-PE EECs has about 5 degrees less timing under no load conditions.

Thanks for that info Mike,
Mine is an early slapper bar 84. It has the round single wire spout. When I look inside of the distributor connector of the spout it has a place for two terminals, but only one is present? From what you say, that is not a problem, and is as it should be.

Evidently the distributor shaft & gear are in pretty good condition since there is no movement when revved if the spout is disconnected.

Now comes the problem. When I first bought it, I drove the car almost 2000 miles with the spout disconnected without realizing it. I have no idea how many miles the P.O. drove it this way.
After reading your warning about driving without the spout connected, I fear that my rattle when started cold is probably a lot more than just lazy lifters clattering.

Should the pre-PE EECs be set at an initial 10º disconnected also?

Ron

[MikeFleming]

Now comes the problem. When I first bought it, I drove the car almost 2000 miles with the spout disconnected without realizing it. I have no idea how many miles the P.O. drove it this way.
After reading your warning about driving without the spout connected, I fear that my rattle when started cold is probably a lot more than just lazy lifters clattering. Difficult to know. Usually high EGT's warp exhaust components (manifold/turbo), destroy exhaust valves and seats, crack heads, etc. And used to result in the most gloriously spectacular engine explosions back in the days of turbo'd F1 engines. Could also cause some oil passage blocking in the head, depending on what oil was used and how often it was replaced. The engines are pretty durable, but it totally depends.


Should the pre-PE EECs be set at an initial 10º disconnected also? ALL Ford EEC-IV equipped engines use 10º BTDC for all years of cars and all versions of all engines. There are one or two exceptions over the 2+ decades of EEC-IV - but these are not the droids you're looking for.

Was the base timing, without SPOUT, set to 12º? That would be bad to drive more than a few minutes.

[BLK BRD 88]

Ok,
The initial is now set at 10º. When the spout is connected it jumps to about 23º at idle. When I crack the throttle it jumps to 30º+.
I dialed it back to 0 on my timing light at idle subtracting the initial 23º.
It shows 24º at 2500rpm. When I add that to the 23º initial that I dialed out I get 47º total at 2500rpm.
Thanks for all of your help with this Mike.
I am headed for a trial drive in it now to see how it runs when the timing is set correctly& the spout is connected!

From what you say above, I may not be driving it too long before it comes apart.....let's hope not.
Ron