ok not sure what the misunderstanding is but detonation or pinging is caused by one or more of a few things: timing advanced too far-causes pre-ignition of the fuel before optimum compression is achieved, too low octane fuel, or bad egr. i eliminated the egr as said above after 148,000 miles on the original. now as i have tried to set the timing where it calls for (x on the flywheel in the crosshairs) it gets closer as you retard the timing but is not in the crosshairs when timing is fully retarded which can only mean that either i've got the inductive timing light connected to the wrong ignition wire or my timing belt is off a notch on the cam. the #1 cylinder for a 2.2 is the cylinder closest to the drive belts correct? right so it's gotta be timing belt wouln'dt you think? I know it sounds like i know the prob but i'm telling you guys to see if anyone else has ever run into this predicament??? sorry for any confusion and hope this clears something up.