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Advance/retard timing on EZ116K

I have been thinking about the EZ116K ignition ECU?s (LH2.4) for a while and I thought that this was the time to bring this up. This is interesting for many of you so please bare with me...



* By grounding one or more pins you will be able to get -6? to +12? in 3? increments.

This I know:

* By grounding pin 18 you will get -3? (retard).

* By grounding pin 19 you will get -6? (retard).

* By grounding pin 18 and 19 you will get +3? (advance).

But here is where I need some help from you guys:

* I don?t know which of the pins mentioned (or combination of pins) to ground to get the other presets...

* How much advance/retard will you get if you ground the other two pins (21 and 25) respectively?

* Is it possible to ground more than one pin at the same time to get a specific advance?

* The big question is: Which pins do what and how much to the retard/advance???

All the mentioned pins (18, 19, 21, 25) are protected so you won?t get a short-circuit if you do anything wrong.

Anyone who wants to try it out? I want to know what grounding all combinations of pins will do?

Test if grounding pin 18 and 19 respectively, and grounding pin 18 + 19 will do what I have claimed they would do?

Grounding pin 18 + 21?
Grounding pin 18 + 25?
Grounding pin 18 + 19 + 21?
Grounding pin 18 + 19 + 25?
Grounding pin 18 + 21 + 25?
Grounding pin 18 + 19 + 21 + 25?
Grounding pin 19 + 21?
Grounding pin 19 + 25?
Grounding pin 19 + 21 + 25?
Grounding pin 21?
Grounding pin 21 + 25?
Grounding pin 25?

It would really be nice to have a button on the dash where you could choose the ignition advance/retard, don?t you think?


I had remembered that it was +3 deg with 18 & 19 and when I put a timing light on the motor after doing the mod I saw about 3-4 deg when it was revv'ed to 4500 rpm.

I saw conflicting info on this thread though in other posts (and some new info updated by Fred I hadn't seen, like adding a button, lol, gotta do that!)

Either way, the car doesn't like the mod on todays pump gas.
 
Got the switch installed:
IngTimingSwitch_01.jpg


Timing setting for Premium gas is +3 degrees (advanced), upper position, Regular gas, -3 degress (retarded) at the lower postion. The center position is unchanged stock ignition setting.

I drove about 150 miles and tested the swithch while driving and the difference you can feel instantly when rev'ing above ~2500 rpm.

I left the setting at -3 deg now running 87 octane E10, runs much better, can hardley see the gas gage move over a 100 mile distance. This setting (Regular) seems to be the best the engine runs on pump E10 87 and best for MPG, keeping all shifts below 3000 rpm, the car has much better throttle response than with the +3 deg and requires less peddle effort. Looks like I'm getting around 30 mpg in mixed city/hiway driving, 32+ mpg hiway, an improvement of 2-4 mpg over what I was getting on the stock ign maps.

I should say the car isn't any slower than with the advanced settings, just can get there at lower rpm's, but flattens out quicker above 3500 rpm, but for fuel conservation this setting is good. I should also add that I'm using 16v injectors and a 4 bar fpr which could help, too.

FYI, the EZK ICU is a Bosch p/n 0288-400-169
I haven't seen any other posts regarding this ICU, so hope it helps others with 3.1

Also, the timing changes are the same using a timing light as reported by others with different EZK boxes.
pin 18 & 19 +3-+4 deg @4000
pin 18 -3 deg @4000

BTW I used Molex .035" round crimp connectors and flattened them to fit the blade-type male connections on the ICU, and they snap into the housing nicely and worked great.

I think there's a greater difference in the timing curves between 1500 and 2500 rpm than the values given at max advacnce rpm's to tell the story why the car runs differently on each setting. You really need to plot a curve of each map to get an idea.

I have not tried any other combinations yet. Pins 21 & 25 are not used. I'll try and get some more information and post back later.
 
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What did you find made +6?
Sorry, that was a mistake on my part. It's been a while since I thought about this stuff.

That switch is awesome Pete, nice work. Regarding the 169 EZK unit though, that's what my 2.4 car also had from the factory... 99% sure, but it's at home and I'm not to confirm.
 
bump:
suppose you have a F-ed knock sensor, could this cause the EZK to give to much advance? (pinging engine)
My reasoning: if EZK can't 'sense' knock it won't pull timing advance, am i right?
does the EZK have a limp home modus? (fixed timing advance when a sensor goes bad?)
 
bump:
suppose you have a F-ed knock sensor, could this cause the EZK to give to much advance? (pinging engine)
My reasoning: if EZK can't 'sense' knock it won't pull timing advance, am i right?
does the EZK have a limp home modus? (fixed timing advance when a sensor goes bad?)

Knock sensor is like tuned microphone, so if EZK does not hear some noise from it, it would revert to limp mode. Also if the noise is falsely too loud EZK should retard all cylinders. In any case EZK is designed to detect bad (disconnected or over tensioned) sensor. Of course if the sensor outputs some noise but due to aging or something it is not "loud" enough during knock EZK may not notice the knock. It listens to amplitude and specific frequency for recognising knock at very specific intervals during which the knock can occur.
 
Knock sensor is like tuned microphone, so if EZK does not hear some noise from it, it would revert to limp mode. Also if the noise is falsely too loud EZK should retard all cylinders. In any case EZK is designed to detect bad (disconnected or over tensioned) sensor. Of course if the sensor outputs some noise but due to aging or something it is not "loud" enough during knock EZK may not notice the knock. It listens to amplitude and specific frequency for recognising knock at very specific intervals during which the knock can occur.

that would make sense and explain the symptoms we had on the car.
A faulty sensor or bad connector connection should trigger the error code and put EZK in limp-home = low on poweroutput. This is what we found.
We installed a new sensor, torqued it up to specs and reset the EZK errorlog. 1-4-3 did not return so it should be working.

Could badly adjusted valve lash trigger a knocksensor?
 
...

Could badly adjusted valve lash trigger a knocksensor?

Probably, high pitch loud engine clatter could trigger false knock events if it is happen in the knock window period and if the freq is in the 5-7 KHz range.
 
Probably, high pitch loud engine clatter could trigger false knock events if it is happen in the knock window period and if the freq is in the 5-7 KHz range.

I have been told the rubber hushers were in place to prevent this from happening. However I run my cars without hushers and have had no problems - but I keep my valve lash corrected by checking it every year and setting it as needed.

Also MKI VW turbo diesels and some other cars used the same knocksensor and lh, they had no valve hushers in the head.

All this basically makes proper tune ups and stage 0 just more important
 
The BMW M106 engine (e23 745i) has 2 of them as well. No valve hushers on that engine.
doing valve lash is a no brainer, we need to do that anyway.
 
Got the switch installed:
IngTimingSwitch_01.jpg


Timing setting for Premium gas is +3 degrees (advanced), upper position, Regular gas, -3 degress (retarded) at the lower postion. The center position is unchanged stock ignition setting.

............. I'll try and get some more information and post back later.

OK need to post new results with the EZK mod.

I took a long trip to CT to haul a 2500 lb load of things from my family's home back to TX and during my first hour out of TX with the trailer nearly empty, ~1000 lbs total, I got really poor mileage 18 mpg, and low power with A/C on at 60-70 mph.

I had regular gas in the 245 when I left, so on my first fill-up I put in premimum gas and flipped the switch. Great! Fantastic! The car pulled wonderfully, even up hills at 75 in 5th. The advance plus premimum really performed well once the ICU/ECU 'learned' the settings. This made the 245 drive great, not since I've been using regular gas mostly since I did the mod. When I filled up the trailer with the load, the car hauled ass, even stronger once the ECU adjusted fuel to the bigger load, 21-22 mpg on premimum. I also added Lucas fuel conditioner and octane boost with Sunoco 94. Zoom, even those big hills on I 70 in Western PA and Wheeling WVA were no challenge to the brick, the car drove flawlessly.

Well that was great. Until I stopped at a gas station in Illinois that only had regular gas (Marathon, yeech!). I quickly flipped the switch back to 'Regular' for less advance. Car ran like crap, started running hot a few hundred miles later. Then the ignition started to stutter, and then the engine stopped running. I pulled over and checked the on-board diagnostics and found the crank sensor was faulty, and 2-3-1 code also. It did feel like the crank sensor was bad, but had recently replaced it, didn't make sense, bad aftermarket part?
Anyway, when I tried to start the car again, maybe an hour later, it started right up and ran OK for about 40-50 miles, but started all kinds of wierd ignition related problems, A/C high idle was going up and down every 3-4 sec, the throttle position sensor was making the engine jump then surge, as well as the engine cutting out like the crank sensor had an intemittent prob. I got the car to an exit and sat in a Denny's figuring what to do over a Moon Over My Hammy and a Coke, then started out until it acted up again.

So somewhere in southern MO I pulled over and let the engine cool down for couple hours. It was 99 deg and 85 % humidity and I was sitting on the side of the Interstate about 120 miles north of Memphis in Bum-F**K Egypt. )It really was just south of Cairo!)

I though, what about my ignition mod?:omg:

I looked at the ICU connector and though it may be out of the socket, so I re-seated it as well as removed the ign mod wires I added to the harness. I continued toward Memphis and all was well for about 50 miles, then the erratic behavior started again. I reached over and pulled the panel down that is under the glovebox where the ICU was, and then grabbed the ICU to feel if it was hot, and it was. A soon as I dangled the ICU into the passenger compartment and had removed the panel so it could get a cool air flow, the car began to run much better, and in about 5 min was fine. I happend to have a small cooler filled with ice, cokes & bud's on the floor so I put the ICU in the cooler where it stayed the rest of the way to TX. I filled the car with premimum gas, left the ICU in stock un-modified condition for the next 17 hrs until I arrived home at 5 am the next day.

The car has run great since, even with the ICU not on ice, have done nothing except let it hang, have driven it every day here commuting to work, 105 deg and a/c cranked. The mod is still disabled.

So the story here says that at some point I cooked the ICU. Was it because I flipped the switch after running regular? Did the ICU get over-worked by re-learning everything? It was running so good when I had the advance set for premimum.

I know this question has been raised before whether or not something like this could happen. Well it can. Still not sure if I need a new ICU or just don't mess with it. My nature says 'don't mess with it' and surely I angered the brickster gods by messing with my beloved VERY reliable 245. I have NEVER, that's NEVER had an ICU go bad, and that's maybe 25-30 200/700/900 I've had with an EZK.
I have NEVER had a serious road trip breakdown before, this was a first in probably 60 cross-USA trips and millions of miles. I'm going to leave it alone.:-(
 
bump..
on EZ-115K pins 18 & 19 connects to the #1 cyl sensor (B280).. anyone knows what pins are the "selector" ones, or do they simply not exist?
Is there anyone who can reply this question? Pins 18 & 19 are already connected, 18 and 19 are already connected. The only blank pins are 1, 9, 14, 15 & 22.
 
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OK need to post new results with the EZK mod.

So the story here says that at some point I cooked the ICU. I'm going to leave it alone.:-(
Update on my ign mods. Since the road trip in July I put the switch back in with pin's 18 & 19 connected and the orig 20 yr old ICU is doing fine, not fried.

What I would reccomend is that if you decide to change from one setting to another that you do it when the battery is disconnected, then power up and let the ECU/ICU slowly adjust and 'learn' the setting, don't just flip the switch.
 
Interesting reading about the ICU mod to a LH3.1.

Question: Will it work with ECU # 0 280 000 572?
That's the ECU in my 91 245 M47 LH 3.1.
 
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