Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, but my car won't start and I need some help. I have fuel, spark, and I can feel the air coming in through the airbox. I have the filter off. I recently did a compression test and my results were not quite up to spec. Cylinders 1 and 4 were about 175 psi, but 2 was at 190 and 3 was at 200. Would that keep the car from starting? I can rotate the engine by hand, everything feels good, and the timeing is dead on. The battery is good, spark is fine, and the engine sounds like it wants to start when I turn the key. I recently changed the head gasket, and that is when I started having the problems. The car ran like a champ before that, even though the old gasket was completely shot. I pulled pieces of it out of the head with some needle nose pliers. Any help would be appreicated.

Joe 85.5 N/A

 

Check your speed and reference sensors. I assume the tach does not bounce when cranking.

 

The tach does bounce, and I read out the speed and reference sensors when I first started having the no start problem. I've run every test I can think of, and the only one that hasn't been in spec was the compression test. I wanted to get some advice before tearing the head off again. To recap, just incase I forgot to tell you anything important. The distributor cap is new, the ignition coil is new, I checked the spark at the plugs (which are new). It's good. Checked fuel pressure at the rail, and injectors are spraying. Vacuum lines are all new and tight. Speed and reference sensors are reading good, and the tach is bouncing. I can feel the air entering the air box. The starter will crank the engine all day long. My timing is dead on, I've checked it 3 times on the bell housing and the camshaft assy. As you can tell, this thing is driving me crazy. I don't want to rip it apart again unless I know it will fix it. Can you think of any more tests I can try? Would my compression numbers possibly have something to do with it? How can I check the operation of my valves?

 

Did you hook up your spark plug wires in the correct order at the cap?

 

I believe so, I hooked them up in accordance with clarks-garage
4 2
3 1

 

Ok, I may be retarded. Should the ignition rotor be pointing toward the number 1 wire. Cause mine is pointing towards #3

 

Depends on what cylinder is at TDC. Are both rotor screws in place? Small allen bolts the rotor to the shaft piece, then the shaft piece bolts to the cam with a little 8mm (head size) bolt.

 

The screw that bolts the rotor to the shaft is installed and the 8mm one that bolts to the cam was never removed, so yes. Both are there. When I installed the camshaft assy, I lined the mark on the cam sprocket up with the notch on the rear distributor housing. The sprocket notch is pointing upper right. Is that right? The bell housing notch is lined up with the OT line.

 

Well, then your rotor is off somehow, because it should be pointing at #1 when all the marks are lined up. Make sure the bolts are sheered off and the rotor is spun on the shaft.

 

This is how it should look when at #1 TDC: