# Quick question about ignition timing advance **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** volkswagen\ **Created:** [October 20, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991 "2022-10-20T01:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/21 "2022-10-22T19:08:00Z")
> [@gnyqyar038\_181857](#): > > have a local vw shop that did tell me once that fuel injectors go bad on most vws. I had a late-70’s VW Rabbit for 12 years, had some fuel injection system problems from time to time, but never had any bad fuel injectors. The only injector issues I had w/that car was the rubber o-rings that sealed the injectors to the intake manifold would sometimes split & fail. Yousr is probably the modern electronic VW fuel injection. Mine was the mechanical CIS K-Jetronic. ---
**Author:** ![gnyqyar038\_181857](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@gnyqyar038\_181857](https://community.cartalk.com/u/gnyqyar038_181857)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/22 "2022-10-22T19:27:43Z")
I was thinking o rings, but I won’t know until they’re actually pulled. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/23 "2022-10-22T19:38:14Z")
> [@gnyqyar038\_181857](#): > > o rings, but I won’t know until [the injectors are] actually pulled. On the CIS system, removing the injectors is very simple process, easier than removing the spark plugs, which itself is a doodle. W. CIS each injector is connected to the fuel delivery system by a separate braided hose. A little prying with the appropriate shaped tool, out pops the injector, independent of the others. Most injection systems now have fuel rails you have to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/24 "2022-10-22T20:05:51Z")
If the injector O-rings were bad, gas would pool on the intake manifold and you’d smell gas. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/d/8/d884d9bed2bd47d362946c5b12ac94a90722cc9f.jpeg) Tester ---
**Author:** ![old\_mopar\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6bbea6/32.png) [@old\_mopar\_guy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/old_mopar_guy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/25 "2022-10-22T20:23:19Z")
I fear you are trying to do what i used to do when i was younger; fix something that aint broken. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/26 "2022-10-22T20:29:41Z")
> [@Tester](#): > > If the injector O-rings were bad, gas would pool on the intake manifold and you’d smell gas. On my old Rabbit, a failed o-ring didn’t exhibit that symptom. The injectors were long enough & the squirting end stuck well down into the intake manifold, plus the intake manifold vacuum would tend draw any wayward gas toward the engine innards . The symptom of a leaking o-ring was a too lean mixture, cause by unmetered air leaking past the injector into the engine. On that engine I could easily see if an o-rings had split just by looking at them with a flashlight. No need to remove injectors just for that. ---
**Author:** ![gnyqyar038\_181857](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@gnyqyar038\_181857](https://community.cartalk.com/u/gnyqyar038_181857)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/27 "2022-10-22T21:00:57Z")
Isn’t broken yet haha, I’m just chasing the problem. Shop I brought it to wrote it into the notes for the next time I come in that it’s most likely injectors and they noticed some odd stuff when you start it. ---
**Author:** ![old\_mopar\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6bbea6/32.png) [@old\_mopar\_guy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/old_mopar_guy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991/28 "2022-10-22T21:52:27Z")
Try and start it with the accelerator pedal pushed down around 1/4" and see if you get a smoother start. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/quick-question-about-ignition-timing-advance/186991.md?page=1)