OK stand in front of your car with the hood open and car not running. Now look to the firewall you should see a funny looking plug all by itself, some call it a test plug. It only has one wire running to it. You need to ground out that plug with a paper clip, running it from one side of the plug to the next. Now you can alter the timing without the computer pulling it back to zero.
Now hook up your spark plug sensor wire from the timing gun to any spark plug wire, dial in the timing gun for a 4 cylinder car and rpms.
Start the car.
Aim timing gun at the pulley timing marks. You should be able to see the timing mark on the pulley now lining up to the timing marks on the engine front cover.
***If the timing mark on the pulley is jumping then you have a bad crank pulley, and need a new one before you can time the motor.
Now if you have a clear reading of the timing mark on the pulley, go to the camshaft sensor and lossen both nuts. This will allow you to adjust the timing, IE advance or retard, by turning it left or right. Moving the sensor towards the radiator will cause the timing to advance. Turning it towards the firewall will cause the timing to retard.
The motor will run well at 12 degrees advanced.
Once you have the timing set tighten down the nuts to the camshaft sensor. Remove the paper clip. Remove timing gun connections, shut hood and drive!
Please understand that this timing has nothing to do with dialing in your cams, in order to tune cams you need adjustable cam sprockets. That is a totally different subject all together.