Hello! My dad bought a 1999 Octavia 1.6 and he replaced all time igniton stuff and now needs to set the ignition timing. Anyone have a guide how to do that with a strobelight? Where is the markings i need to go after?

kind regards Johan

7 hours ago, johanswe said:

all time igniton stuff and now needs to set the ignition timing.

What stuff exactly?

I would have expected the timing to be controlled by the ecu in a 99 model car.

Crank angle sensor sets the mark and the ecu does the rest

15 hours ago, BlueWagon said:

What stuff exactly?

I would have expected the timing to be controlled by the ecu in a 99 model car.

Crank angle sensor sets the mark and the ecu does the rest

I never set the ignition timing before, but i assume i need to do it because i replace the hold unit. I tried to put it like the old one but it seems like its off now because the car drive like ****.

Yeah ok

That is a distributor type arrangement so yeah, you'll have to set the timing.

Maybe as a first pass look at the crank pulley. Id say its there somewhere

Maybe on the flywheel too, under a small cover you unbolt

You could try and adjust it for max rpm but Turing the distributor whilr engine running then bring it back until the engine doesn't knock anymore. Pretty crude but might get you going.

Edited 20 October, 202520 Oct by BlueWagon

To be absolutely sure there must be timing marks somewhere. It may not work but if you still have the old distributor there may be a mark where the securing bolt was as long as the new one went in the same position. I did find someone using VCDS to set timing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPZKEZXusLk

Not sure if its the same engine as yours but distributor looks similar.

Alasdair

Thank you! There was a green plug on the gearbox and bought a strobelight and now the timing is correct. But i got another problem,


When i drive the car on the highway the car runs fine, but when

On 20/10/2025 at 10:04, Alasdair1 said:

To be absolutely sure there must be timing marks somewhere. It may not work but if you still have the old distributor there may be a mark where the securing bolt was as long as the new one went in the same position. I did find someone using VCDS to set timing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPZKEZXusLk

Not sure if its the same engine as yours but distributor looks similar.

Alasdair

On 20/10/2025 at 09:22, BlueWagon said:

Yeah ok

That is a distributor type arrangement so yeah, you'll have to set the timing.

Maybe as a first pass look at the crank pulley. Id say its there somewhere

Maybe on the flywheel too, under a small cover you unbolt

You could try and adjust it for max rpm but Turing the distributor whilr engine running then bring it back until the engine doesn't knock anymore. Pretty crude but might get you going.

Thank you guys, i was able to get the timing correct, there was a plug on the gearbox and i bought a strobelight.

Now to another thing! The car i running fine on the highway but when its on idle och if i drive on first gear the car "jumps" the rev gauge goes fro 1k to 2k all the time and runs really rough. I tried a smoker and find no vaccum leak. Is there a common problem with this engines? Can it be the PCV behind the engine?

Might be worth getting it scanned in case anything pings up. My sons fabia idle was eratic and I discovered the brake servo hose was split in two places. I taped it up and it cured the problem.

Alasdair

22 hours ago, Alasdair1 said:

Might be worth getting it scanned in case anything pings up. My sons fabia idle was eratic and I discovered the brake servo hose was split in two places. I taped it up and it cured the problem.

Alasdair

Yes that plastic hose was broken in everywhere so i also taped it up and was 100% sure it would fix my problem but no haha

On 24/10/2025 at 18:59, johanswe said:

Yes that plastic hose was broken in everywhere so i also taped it up and was 100% sure it would fix my problem but no haha

Did you actually seal it properly with the "bodge tape"?