i have been having major timing issues.

i know most people check timing at idle or free revs, but i was checking my timing on a dyno and was wondering does it have to be put into "insert technical name here" (timing mode) from mem som pins need to be shorted and you get 1 min to play?

does this need to be done while the car is on the dyno, cos im getting really weird timing advance, a max of 21' advance on wot@5500rpm

Just good old fashioned diagnostic mode.

Problem being, that timing is never truly static when the ECU is operating normally... you've probably noticed this if you've already had the timing light out...

diagnostic mode, the term illuded me.

with car running at 5500rpm on dyno, me standing infront of it with a timing light the max it gets is 21' adv.

from mem idle was 16' adv.

whats the normal timing advance for an i6 EF?
as i havnt been able to get another ef to compare against.

isn't an advance increasing with rpm over 2000 supposed to happen?