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ok so ive been reading and reading trying to find what could possibly be wrong and cant seem to find it.

i replaced my head gasket intake manifold and exhaust manifold gasket.

i had to take off the distributor and the i believe camshaft pulley up top next to the cap. i put everything back together all sensors are good and hooked up. currently i have the camshaft pulley at tdc i do believe.

i have been tempted to go rrent a compression tool this is my next step to diagnose any tips or any help greatly appreaciated.

and is there a way to check timing if your car wont start. and isnt the markings supposed to be on the belt? i thought there was supposed to be a white line and i dont see that.

 
Rep Power: 518

What exactly have you been reading?

What did you torque the head bolts to?

You believe?
The proper reading material would have this covered.
Then you can be positive.

Skip the compression tester for the moment.
If the cam timing is not spot-on, compression will be off.
Recheck your work, do it all by the book.

There are NO markings on the timing belt.
The proper book would tell you this.
All timing marks are on the gears and the head/oil pump.

If you don't have it timed correctly, you can bend the valves.

You have a service manual for the engine/car?
Read up on setting up the timing belt.

If you don't have a book, you should get one.
They are full of handy info like this.
Some parts stores sell books, they might have what you need...
Your local library may be able to help, many have access to Alldata or Mitchell.

HTH

 
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ok yeh a read up a bit it is the camshaft pulley it has the markings for up and those side dashes. i been reading the forums a bit. yeh im going to buy the book because i replaced the gaskets by memory. and will the head bolts being torqued make a difference as far as not starting? i thought if they werent properly torqued it would start but leak oil and such. and i was trying to get it timed correctly so i do not bend valves. so i try not to start it too often. to explain how it sounds is it keeps turning and not catching. and since i didnt take off a lot of thing i do imagine it has to do with the timing. ill buy book tomorrow i guess but i have been trying to find guides and such so i dotn gotta spend the money since im having to have my brother buy me **** and which i dont like having him do since he has spent a bit on me lately.

 
Rep Power: 518

Head bolt torque = critical for long engine life.

Library info = free.

Correct and proper information without worrying about the credibility of the source = priceless.



Once you have figured out the correct timing, then see if it will start. If it won't start, see if it has lost compression. If it DOES have proper compression on all 4 cylinders (I expect to see 180+ PSI on that), then you can look elsewhere for your problem.

It only took 1/60th of a second to bend all of the valves if you were going to do it. Then it is too late.


HTH

 
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ok how do i figure out the timing exactly if i cant get it to start because i had the camshaft pulley on tdc and tried cranking and wouldnt start. and by the way thank you for the help and response. too dark now to try ne thing but good info to try later.

 
Rep Power: 518

How do you know that?
What position was the crank timing gear in at that time? Was its timing mark straight up, or was its keyway straight up?

Valve adjustment?
Plug wires in the wrong order?

There are a ton of places that someone could mess up on a job that big. Even more possibilities when a rookie does something like this. Rookies tend to take stuff apart that a pro wouldn't touch.
I can't even begin to guess what went wrong.
I have no clue what you did or didn't do, what you could have missed, nor any clue about your mechanical abilities and powers of observation.
(I have already guessed though.)


Does the engine sound normal when you crank the starter, or not?

Compression, spark, and fuel.
All in the proper amounts and at the proper times.
Something isn't right if it won't start.
See which one of those is out of whack.


Hey, umm, what happened to the engine that caused you to remove the head in the first place?

 
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it tries to start normal sounds like it use to, i had oil leaking onto my spark plugs on valves 1 and 2. all plug wires are connected correctly i marked them and bought new spark plugs. and i had the camshaft pulley where up was up and the 2 dashes were perfectly horizontal.at least from what i have read that is tdc. i havent checked compression but i can smell fuel if i touch the gas pedal would this let me know if it was gettign gas or no? but i will definatly get a book tomorrow unless i can find an ebook of some kind to let me know exactly how to check timing of any kind without the car being started.

 
Rep Power: 518

Sounds like the cam was at the right spot, but was the crank?

Cam, Crank, and Timing belt are set with the engine OFF.
The distributor will be close enough to run if you bolted it in somewhere close to where it was before. Even better if you didn't remove it at all, you never have to change it.

Smell fuel, well that could be anything. Like leaking? Yes it is getting gas to the front of the car, but where is it going, since you can smell it? Could be flooded, from too much fuel or no spark.

There are still a bunch of sensors and wiring that have to be perfect too.

It is really hard to guess from here.

 
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gas isnt leaking sensors are all good. ok i guess im not sure which is the crank exactly then. possible i was flooding it but in my own opinion im sure its gettign the gas cuz its not liek it all of a sudden died it jsut started runnign liek **** and i check plugs and i had oil on them so i replaced head gasket. so i fi can find out which is the crank then maybe this can help me a bit on timing but i do ahve antoher question. when i turn the bolt down at the very bottom by my tire well behind it all belts turn so when i did replace my head gasket i never took off any belts other than the camshaft pulley belt and my distibutor only cuz it was easier to take the head off this way and without messing with fuel rail and all of this. so if this is what i did how could my timng be off? but it was my only true guess since i took off the pulley to lift the head off. and again thanks for the help and responses.

i type fast at times and misspell hope you can still understand my typing lol

 
Rep Power: 518

ok i guess im not sure which is the crank exactly then.

I already guessed at your abilities, I guess I missed by a little bit.

Get a book and look up all the info and procedures for yourself before I start yelling at you.

but i do ahve antoher question.

when i turn the bolt down at the very bottom by my tire

Yo, slim: That is the crank.


how could my timng be off?

The cam and crank must be timed to each other.

Can you find the timing marks on the plastic timing cover and the crank pulley?
(This should be in the book!)
Line them up at TDC and see where the cam pulley marks are.
If the cam is a half turn off the marks, then spin the crank one more turn and recheck.

 
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ok makes since haha thanks for making me feel smart =) lmao thanks again tomorrow when the sun is up i will check this.

 
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should i take the belt off the camshaft puley when spinning the crank to tdc? because currently i have the crank at tdc and my cam shaft up is down at about 7:00. thanks for the help again.

ok so this is what i did now. i turned the crank until the cam pulley was at tdc. i took the cam pulley off then turned the crank again till the cranks white line was at tdc. put the cam pulley back on and tried to start still didnt start. was this the wrong way of doing it? because no matter how many times before i turned the crank wouldn't both be at tdc. any ideas?

 
Rep Power: 518

Um, have you done it by the book?
(FYI: When you take something like this apart again, the service manual has procedures for doing that properly too.)

With the crank and cam properly timed, as per the service manual, compression should be restored to normal. If there is no damage.
You probably should make sure this is, in fact, true.
Now it is time to do a compression test and then determine if there is the possibility of damage, based on the results of the test.

Then figure out what the next step is.



You could always start over from scratch, and do everything by the book.