Does anybody know how to change the timing on an '89 1600 carby engine?
It looks as if the timing pickup is on the flywheel, so I assume it won't be a mechanical adjustment as on their older cars.

hello
where the ht leads come out of the distributor and go to the spark plugs. there are some screws around the distributor take them out then twist it (bear in mind that you need a timing light to do this) the marks will then line up when you twist it. try marking the marks with tippex much easier

Its not adjustable unless you move the flywheel snesor or pickup.

You need to do what 'adstipo' said.

Move the Distributor until it is properly timed. If you have owned it long enough you can adjust it by ear, if not you'll need the strobe light timing gun.

This is ony suitable if the timing belt has been installed properly.

:bang:

Adjusting the distrubuiter wont have any effect. It got a digiplex

Re-Reading the Haynes, SteveNZ is correct

Haynes-Fiat Tipo Petrol 1372cc - 1580cc said:

Page 92, #15
No adjusment of the ignition timing is possible with the Digiplex 2 system but a rough check of the ignition advance at various engine speeds can be made as follows.

Click to expand...

Basically it says you might need a new ECU if your one is not doing what it should be doing.

Although Adjusting the Distributor on my 1.6 does do something, you can only try I guess.

As said the ignition timing on the digiplex system cant be adjusted. I had 2 digiplex units fail which led to the car missing, the revs at which the miss occured happened got lower as the engine got hotter. Why do you want/need to adjust the timing?, If you post why someone here might be able to help