Good god! my wonderful 1988 245 GL didn't pass CA smog today.
The technician could't find the timing mark and I had high NOX count.

So, no problem right? I will just make a little timing adjustment and fixed-WRONG!

I moved the distributor ever which way with the light attached to the #1 spark plug and didn't see squat! The mark is there on the pully mind you- just no where to be found during timing procedure.

Can somebody help tell me what is going on with this!

Thanks!

Harmonic balancer split and rotating outer section is rotating around inner? Check out the rubber core, is it split up and extruding? Crank the wheel hard left and see if the power steering belt stp[s turning. Or run the car a couple of minutes and carefully check the pulley for hot as hell state.

Often times in the early stages of dampner failure it will spin and then stick again. If your dampner has spun and stuck again and is not actively spinning at a different speed around the center then you can just rotate it up to TDC, put a white stripe on it at the "0" mark and set the timing that way. It is perfectly legal and an acceptable method of fixing your problem.

Now if your outer ring on the dampner is loose and spinnig at a different rate from the inner then you are screwed and will need to buy a new dampner and install it. Sucks huh? And then you have to adress your Nox problem, oh joy!!

Mark

Thanks guys- I will need to check that out- sounds very possible - Thanks!

As for the NOx problem, you may want to check this out:

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NOx and Volvo/Chrysler Ignition ('81 thru '88 240s)

You may be able to pass the NOx test by plugging the vacuum line to your Volvo/Chrysler Ignition CU.

See myoriginal post here. and a success story here.
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Thanks for the interesting and very informative link Bruce!
My cat has 175K on it so looks like it may b the culprit.