El Jefe

Hello all,

My car started off with having weird starting problems. The idle would start out really rough and I could hear the engine misfiring. Then the idle would mellow out and the car would run normally. When the car was idling it would sound as if it would be pulsating, i'm assuming it was due to high and low rpms.

I took it to my mechanic and he installed a new distributor. The problem went away for a couple of days.

Then, the symptoms started to persist again. Now, the engine won't even start. It sounds horrible when i try to crank it you can hear it misfiring and it starts to shake.

three months earlier I did a head gasket repair job I'm thinking i may have messed things up. I torqued the head bolts to specification. I made sure the number one piston was on top dead center. I checked the timing after I put everything together and it checked out right. I didn't even touch the head, i took it to a machine shop and they checked it out.

The only thing I didn't do was replace the timing belt because it was fairly new. I didn't take it off and re-install it either I just slipped it back on after installing the head gasket.

I also installed new plugs and no dice. gapped to specification.

The car ran great for the first two months. No overheating problems.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I don't even know where to start.

mikey1

what do the plugs look like?

i would start by checking the timing belt/timing, verify its correct,

next do a spark test, then compression test

ezone

Try a few more distributors?

El Jefe

hey thanks for the replies,

I took the plugs out, and valve cover off. The plugs had oil on the electrodes. Does this mean I just have to replace the valve oil stems?

I will do a compression and spark plug next and give you guys the results

ezone

Why aren't you back at your mechanics shop? Surely there is a warranty on his work that only kept the car going for 2 days.

El Jefe

sorry just to clarify my mechanic doesn't have his own shop, he works out if his house.

ezone

ftfy

El Jefe

yea so I installed new spark plugs and the car fired right up, then later that day after stopping and re-starting again it still started to boggle and misfire when starting the engine.

I did a compression test cylinders 1-4 170 - 165 - 165 - 180 . However, the compression test for cylinders 1-3 were kind of slow to build up that pressure. It took about 15-12 seconds of cranking to get it up that high.

tested spark and it was good. I'm thinking worn piston rings or valve stem seals what do you guys think?

ezone

I might be wondering if it's trying to flood itself, like see (on a scanner) if the coolant temp sensor is reading inaccurately.