Injection pump timing too advanced (VCDS says)

Hello everyone!


My car has been a pleasure to drive and I have noticed zero issues. I have been doing health checks with VCDS however. It started when I was clearing out the CEL of a glow plug circuit issue, and pulled/ reinstalled the glow plug in question. I reopened VCDS to look at measuring blocks in the engine after I witnessed a few plumes of black smoke upon acceleration from a stop. The engine was up to temp. On block 004 in the engine controller, I noticed that the Start of Injection- Specified value was 0.4* BTDC, while Start of Injection- Actual was 2.6* BTDC. So, I went to block 000- basic settings and started a TDI Timing graph. Verified this pretty much most of the day and all values stayed the same ( the smoke issue went away, I guess it was some oil or something). The value was hoovering around 73-75, which was out of range on the high end, every time I ran the TDI Timing graph.



My question is this- am I flirting with disaster by running this advanced? I am really on the fence about retarding the timing, but I will do it if it means a happy, healthy long life for my ALH.

Hmm... Took this at a later time this evening.

It's a bit advanced out of "spec" but the spec is pretty conservative. A lot of us have run it advanced and then used adaptation for a bit extra.
I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to let it ride.

If it is something you would prefer to see "in spec", it's a very easy operation to retard the IP sprocket a tiny bit and run the graph again to confirm.

It is true it is an easy adjustment, i.e. loosen bolts, move pump sprocket towards engine, tighten, and re-graph in vcds. Rinse and repeat till satisfied. Now, i did some work to the car that involved an injector swap with bosio nozzles, and the timing is "in range" and no IP ajustments were made, other than the IQ adjustment to get it to Kerma's spec that came on the sheet. Was 55-60 I believe and if needed, ill get a vcds graph for yall to look at. Have not found much info on timing adjusting like that on its own, or I am this sites worst search engine user. Any input on why the timing adjusted without my input would be appreciated. Thanks guys, especially jettawreck!

h1h0, are you aware that as the engine/fuel temps get warmer the timing changes accordingly?

I did catch on to that trend yes, however it is good to actually hear it from someone. I am getting these values at the same fuel temps and coolant temps, both prior to the engine work and post engine work I did. That is why I want to make another graph with the same fuel and coolant temps to show I am not crazy lol. Let me drive around a bit and I will get a graph shot to post.

Injection timing is affected by many things. Fuel and coolant temps, of course, but probably (many) others. I also suspect perhaps different nozzle sizes may even alter it somewhat due to pump pressure changes/variation.
Depending on the nozzles, most like them set up with some good advance.