Here's the scoop:

You need a special tool -- I can supply part number, costs my mechanic $245 -- to set the timing. You unscrew a cover plug, and screw in a position sensor. Set engine for 15 ATDC (please note timing!) then loosen the three through bolts on the vac pump that hold the IP on (bolts go all the way through) and then adjust the adjusting nut to get the proper timing (when both lights light up on the test device). There is a little nub on a crossarm at the rear of the pump that does the Hall effect thing with the position sensor.

Needless to say, no special tool, no adjustment.

The good news is that any Authorized Bosch Diesel Service will have the necessary tools (there is also a very nice setup that allows setting the timing with the engine running) and can do the job for you. Check it out unless you feel a strong need to buy the tool.

If you are brave, you can simply loosen the pump bolts and use the adjuster (lock nut and adjusting screw) to rotate the pump in the direction of engine rotation to retard the timing. Better to get it set properly.

Now, the fun part: are you getting smoke at high speed, or at low speed, and do you have any drivability problems? The reason I ask is that you may have been running with very late injection timing, and the engine is simply making more normal noise. Does it sound like someone is using a hammer on the engine or is is just a muffled rattle as though something was loose in the valve cover? The later may be normal until you get the crud burned out from running late timing.

If the timing is really fast, it will sound like an old over the road diesel and "snort" like one when you start it, and under initial acceleration.

Peter

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!