- 1). Park your Kia Sportage on level ground but leave the engine on. Shut off any accessories or equipment in the vehicle, including the lights.
- 2). Use wheel chocks to chock the wheels of the car. Put the transmission in neutral, engage the parking brake and gradually take the engine to a warm idle speed of 750 rpm.
- 3). Exit your truck with the parking brake firmly engaged, allowing the rpm of the engine to decrease. Open the hood. Loosen the idle air control with a flathead screwdriver to keep the engine at a warm idle. The idle air control valve is connected to the engine control module on the right side of the engine.
- 4). Attach a timing light to the engine battery by first placing a red clip on the positive terminal and a black clip on the negative terminal. Connect the timing light clamps to the wire for the No. 1 spark plug. The plug numbers are on the engine's cylinder head. Shine the timing light on the pulley connected to the main crankshaft.
- 5). Check where the timing mark on the pulley falls compared to the degree tab on the front of the engine to see what the current ignition timing is. Remove the timing light from the battery and spark plug wire and close the hood if the ignition timing is correct. If not, proceed to the next step.
- 6). Find the distributor lockdown bolt at the base of the distributor housing and loosen it with your wrench counterclockwise. Disconnect the distributor vacuum hose from the distributor housing. It will be the only vacuum hose connected to the distributor. The distributor is connected to the engine's camshaft and oil pump.
- 7). Plug the distributor vacuum hose into the electronic control module on the right side of the engine and ground the carburetor switch with jumper cables by placing the red clamp on the carburetor switch and the black clamp on the floor. The carburetor is connected to the intake and exhaust manifold, and the switch is a wire that is connected and plugged into the carburetor.
- 8). While shining the timing light on the pulley, rotate the distributor clockwise with your hand until the timing mark on the pulley aligns with the degree tab on the front of the engine to equal 4 degrees. You can retard the spark by advancing the ignition timing a little further than 4 degrees. Retarding the spark causes your pistons to fire a little late.
- 9). Unplug the distributor vacuum hose from the electronic spark computer and connect it into the distributor housing. Tighten the distributor lockdown bolt with a wrench and remove the jumper cables from the carburetor. Remove the timing light from the engine.
- 10
Turn off the warm idle speed by tightening the idle air control with a flathead screwdriver. Close the hood, put your transmission in park, release the parking brake and remove the wheel chocks.
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