That thought had crossed my mind. I'm a good, old fashioned mechanic but I'm as lost as one can be when it comes to tech. I don't know what tells what what to do.

 

OK, I'm making some progress here but Murphy is pulling out all the stops. I had replaced the connectors to the coil with cheap ones and they did not fit tight and connections were not made. They have been replaced with genuine OEM, with quite the price tag. Distributor has been replaced and the truck is running now but I suspect that the timing needs to be adjusted. I am getting mixed answers on where to find the timing bypass connector. I have found something that meets the description but not the wire colors over near the power brake booster. Pic attached. I'm seeing others say that it is under the carpet on the passenger's side. Does anyone know where it is? And I have painted the notch on the harmonic balancer white but can't read anything on the timing cover pointer. Which notch or point am I looking to match with the timing notch on the balancer?

This is what I found under the hood.

 

The Bypass connector is on the passenger side below the top edge of the carpet. it is a one wire connector. I do not remember which timing mark is correct and my 89 Jimmy is in the paint ship getting a new paint job. Otherwise I would look for you. You could mark the location of the number one plug on the distributor somewhere where you can read the mark with the cap off. Rotate the engine until the timing mark lines up the crankshaft pully and the rotor is pointing to the number one plug.

 

Thanks, I'll look under that carpet tomorrow. I did find that the timing advance should be on sticker on the truck, I'll look for that too. I did take the cap off and have the timing marks pretty close to each other and the rotor is pointing in the right direction. I should be getting close on this.

 

I'm moving right along. Bypass connector was indeed under the top of the carpet with a brown wire. Truck sticker calls for 0 degrees DTC. I got it all set and running smoother than it ever has but it still has check engine light. I have disconnected it for about 1/2 hr while I put all my tools away but it came back on. I'll leave the battery disconnected overnight and study up on the morse code info and check it in the morning. My timing tab only has three points on it and I presume that the center one is TDC, as that's what the book shows on one with five points on it. Plus it starts and runs very well.

Thanks for the help.

 

The check engine light will come on when the bypass connector is umpluged if you did not know that.

 

No, I didn't. Thanks! How do I clear it?

 

If i remember correctly It should clear iiself once you re-connect.the timing bypass connector. If not you could disconnect the battery for about 30 seconds and it should clear the code.

 

I've disconnected the battery a few times and still getting an error. I've had it disconnected overnight and will see what the thing tells me this morning. It also gave me the CEL before I disconnected that bypass connector but I figured it was because the timing was so far off.

 

The code is probably unrelated to the bypass connector being disconnected.