Gas Mileage and Ignition timing relationship... Simple question...
Does retarding the timing yield better gas mileage?
The reason I ask is because I set my timing to about 17 (in between the middle mark and the other mark) and my gas mileage dropped from 30mpg to 19-22mpg. I noticed the distributor seemed really advanced (leaning towards the firewall a lot), so I just put it more towards the middle (haven't rechecked timing yet) and drove about 100 miles and poored gas again to check gas mileage... that was the ONLY change I did and now I'm back to 30mpg. I get gas at teh same place and didn't change anything else. When I first put the b20 swap in, i was running the wrong ecu (P28 vtec) and I was still getting 28mpg. Then I got the a LS ecu and been getting 28-29mpg also.... then I use the timing gun to advance my timing to 17 and all of a sudden my gas mileage drops SIGNIFICANTLY. I also notice my car isn't as responsive as it used to be. I will recheck timing with the light as soon as I can, but until then......
Retarded timing = better gas mileage?