I've posted on several other sites and I've drawn a big blank... Here is what is up.. please read carefully... sorry it's so long...

Quick version... bought a 98 motor, put PI heads, cams, intake on the motor. Somehow the crank reluctor wheel got put on backwards and busted the right timing chain. Which in turn busted a valve on cylinder 2.
Ran it with the bad valves.. it ran like hell but IT DID RUN (I feel like this part is a big key).. I was pretty impressed by the power it picked up even running bad...

Took the one head off and took it to a shop. I made marks on the timing chain and camshaft gear so I wouldn't have to time from scratch. Slapped it back together... THE CAR STARTED UP 3 times (again i think that this is key) i ran it for about 5 minutes total...... but it had a mild back fire. Double checking things I found that I had 7 and 8 spark plug wires crossed. I swapped them and now the engine won't turn over. I did put 7 and 8 back like I had them and same thing..... I didnt' touch anything else (that I'm aware of) It starts to crank and seems to get stuck??? Best I can describe it.. A couple of cranks and the battery is dead... battery is good... cranks my truck all day long.. my truck battery does the same thing... my car battery is 500 cca and my truck battery is 880 cca...

Now I'm working alone so forgive me if I miss something...

i have fuel, I have spark.. I pulled all spark plugs...I put a pressure gauge on on each cylinder.. cranked the engine for 8 strokes.. each cylinder measured 180 psi except cylinder 3.. it read 200 psi...??? This was suspect...so I left the spark plug out of cylinder 3 and tried to crank the car...same result... If I pull the spark plugs the engine will spin all day.. I can rotate the engine by hand... so I don't think that it's anything with the cams or heads is off... I had one guy suggest that the exhaust valve was stuck closed on cylinder 3 and that was causing the increase in pressure and stopping the car from turning over... I feel ike if that had been the case then pulling the spark plug from 3 would have eliminated that build up and at least let the motor turn over... I also think that if a valve was stuck closed it would bind up the cams... maybe not...

I'm really at a loss and need my car back and running... please somebody help me out here.. thanks a lot to all...

 

Wish I could help... but me=stumped.

 

Sounds like the cam timing on one side is very off. Hence it gets stuck trying to crank over.

 

probably... i just can't explain why it was running and now it doesn't... I'm yanking the timing cover and valve covers tonight...

 

Well... i put #1 at TDC at my timing dots on the camshaft gears didnt seem to where they belong... let me tell you what I did ... since the car was running and I knew that I had at least 1 bad valve... I put the engine in safe mode... and then marked the timing chain and cam gear... when I put everything back together I just lined up my marks and put the chaing back on....

Either way... i've yanked the chains... I layed the chains out just to make sure that they are the same and they are.. I checked the crank gears and they look fine.... I've rotate the camshafts and all valves appear to open and close normally...

 

When you install the chains, are you lining the dots from the chain up w/ the mark on the gears or the keyway?

 

Here ya go, http://www.modulardepot.com/?show=articlesdet&aid=32

 

That's what I used... it was late and I probably let the chain slip who know at this point...

This is becoming ridiculous... I broke one of the bolts for the cam cap... geez!!! It's that 3rd outer bolt at the front of the cap on the driver's side.. can I run without it for a day or 2?? or at least enough to see if it starts up.....What else... actuallly i know what else.. there's freakin coolant in my oil... this is the first time I've seen it in the daylight... should I have replaced the head gasket when I pulled the head?? It was a brand new gasket... I didnt run for very long with the bad valves???

 

Every time you take the heads off, you need to replace the gasket (unless you didn't torque down the bolts/studs).

 

So I have learned... well.. I will say, this project has taught me a lot... definitely feel a lot more comfortable with the car and the engine... I really appreciate everybody's input... it has been invaluable...

I'm putting the project on hold for about a week... until the weather clears up some...and so i can get a new head gasket and cam cap bolts... but I can't wait to get her back together... I will keep everybody up to date on things and let y'all know what the SOTP meter has to say about the swap...

 

Thats the best thing to do, just get everything situated and come back to it.

 

Well, I got it back together...



Before I put it all back together I cranked it without fuel injectors or spark plugs... everything spun fine. Then I put on the crank pulley, spark and fuel... The car would start randomly... when it did start it idled really smooth right under 1k rpm for a couple of seconds and then it would die...



Then I put the a/c compressor and power steering pump back on... slapped the belt back on and it went back to the same thing??? ... it will spin.. sometimes for several cycles I counted as many as 10 sometimes for half a cycle.. but no sign of trying to start...

 

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