Timing IP by ear

[hooper]

i must admit it does sound a bit advanced(but ive not heard the vw diesel engine b4 and im used to more modern diesels) but it runs really rough up to about 13°, wouldnt start very well at 13.5° and runs virtually smokeless at tickover at 14° and above. soons as you retard it it starts smoking and the idles rough. what point does the dynamic advance cut in as theres a noticeable diesel knock after a certain rev range that dies off as the revs drop.

overall the engine seems ok. bit of smoke on start up and a tad at tickover when cold which clears once warm. pulls ok and only really smokes on hard acceleration. runs fine temp wise and seems to be good on fuel. i did notice with the pulse adapter that it did seem a bit erratic on no1 cyl i.e revs jumped at bit and the timing seem to fluctuate bit on the display where as if you put it on no 4 cyl the timing was and revs were much more stable

[Baxter]

Can I add the offset curveball?
Dependant on pick up, there can be some amount of delay in the whole process.
meaning if a pick/adapter has a offset of 3°, you would need 15° indicated on the gauge when in actual fact you have 12° of advance.
12+3=15.
I think thats why the Autodata, er, data gives a few different settings depending on the manufacturer of the equipment used.

[anto]

Ive never had a timing guage or pulse light thingy so ive only ever timed it by ear.
It starts great, runs great, good power, sounds fine so im happy.

[ToddA1]

OK, so I'm finally ready to get this car back on the road. 

Does my memory serve me right....? Am I advancing then retarding, (when I hear a sound difference and stumbling), or retarding, first?

-Todd

[Alcaid]

Where can I buy one of these diesel pulse adaptors?

[bugnut]

I got mine from snap-on.  Part number is MT257b.  It is a spendy little guy, just a hair over $300.

[doonboggle]

You cannot beat the pulse adapter and timing light.  Bang on every time, fast and easy...

More details please.
How does this compare to the loosening of the ip, lines, etc.?

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

It's funny how excited many of you get about the timing light/Snap-on stuff for sorting your engines out.

Anto has hit upon the truth. 
These devices along with the gauge do not tune your engine, they are just fairly accurate ways of recording where the parameters of your engine are at any instance. They don't prevent wrong timing.

I think that most of us now agree, that the final tuned position may [as measured by the tools] vary quite considerably, and due to this variation between setups, carry minimal value for someone elses vehicle.
Forms of 'tuning' that do work, include of course 'tuning by ear'.
This has it's draw backs, as you need to know what you are listening for, and some engines are noisier than others, and so harder to judge.
This 'by ear' method is best coupled with a series of test drives, which can help to determine the required mileage and performance results.
 
Anto also mentioned 'smoothness'.
I have been testing a tuning technique using smoothness. I have found a way of finding that "sweet spot", which includes as a check, lightly touching the gear knob, under acceleration to feel for 'improved' running.

The method certainly seemed to work for my car when it had those low injector break pressures, but I'm having a few issues with my 'improved' injectors, simply due to diesel leaks.

The ancient shields are fine,[reuse #6], but two of the bodies are sweating slightly, and a couple of leakoff pipes, and possibly a fuel line nut.
 I also need to do a few fuel tests to see if 145bar is better than 125bar  x 3 and 1 x 130bar. I would have thought so, but my first mileage of 49.5mpg [imp]for  mixed trips,  the result hasn't  been conclusive Perhaps the injectors need to come out,  be remeasured and if still matched, bodies torqued up more.