Hi everyone,
I've got a 96 EL Gli. So on take off its really struggles with power. Even you you flat floor it, it still doesn't really take off. Once the car get passed about 2200-2500RPM it'll then take off. Also when over taking it'll feel like its still kinda lagging.
Quite a few months back a had the distributor & coil pack go on it and got it replaced. After then it's never had the same power it used to. I've had many mechanic's look at it (including my work) and they can never tell me whats wrong? They've told me many different things it could be, like my ecu, fuel pump, timing, my sports exhaust etc.
Just wondering if anyone could help me with this irritating problem?
Thanks heaps. Justin.

When you had the dissy changed it sounds like the timing wasn't set properly..

Also sounds like a typical stocky falc, they're a bit of a slug until you hit around 2500 rpm like you said

Double post, sorry

have a look through my recent posts. same issue, turns out timing was gone to s**t. the marks on some of the new dizzy's arnt right and there is the possibility the hamonic balancer has spun sending the time marks WAY out. best take it to a cluey mechanic that will actually investigate the problem. The guy i took mine to used a electronic timing gun, the cars computer and another machine and they all read zero advance but he tried something else and it wasnt even close.

i jst had the same problem and mine was a obstruction in the cat convertor if that help you

i jst had the same problem and mine was a obstruction in the cat convertor if that help you

With dizzy I6 (ie. EB/ED and EL) I always found the best way to finally tune ignition timing was pretty much pommy style - ie. advance it a little at a time until you start losing performance. That sounds really gash but the point is that you want best advance especially for bottom end takeoff - but that will eventually reach a point where you'll run out of improvement in bottom end or/and she'll start to feel flat at higher revs (in the EL the knock sensor will be causing timing to be pulled back out - on EB/ED you'll generally feel the pinging / rattling - but in both cases you'll quite clearly feel the car sag when you drive it).

I was always disappointed that the knock sensor / timing system on EF and EL isn't more sophisticated than it is - we really shouldn't have to be messing about IMO - ie. the ECU's should be able to find their own best timing as long as base is in the ballpark - but they clearly cant.

When I converted my ED to BBM - including fitting EL ECU - I found the base timing actually needed to be same as it was originally with ED ECU - ie. I still of course had the ED timing cover so initially reset the base timing to TDC mark which was what I thought the EL needed to be - but it was D-E-A-D in the bottom end - so set the base back to the 10* advanced position and she came good. I then tweaked it more and more until I found the sweet spot where she was pulling good off the line but not falling flat higher up. My final operating base timing was something like 14*.

That was according to the timing mark on the balancer which indeed can be inaccurate - but the point is that by adjusting according to how the car actually runs, what those marks show is largely immaterial excepting for perhaps showing you how far you end up shifting the base.