SolScifen

ok so heres some back story. sorry if its alot.
my engine kept busting heater hoses and was overheating, suspected after a bit that head gasket was now blown so i replaced it. Put on a dif head that i had picked up. ran fine for a couple days then noticed it started running hot, checked it out and it was leaking from in between head and block. found out the head was not level (found out it was a bad home P&P by guy i bought it from)
Bought new head gasket and put old head back on. now wont start. cylinders keep flooding, did compression test 60 on cyl 1 and 2, 0 on 3 and 4. havent done the oil trick for compression test yet gonna do it tomorrow and see what come up.
my question is is it possible my piston rings are trash now even though i never let it get too hot (prolly 3/4 of the way up) while the unlevel head was on? ill find out for sure tomorrow but just wondering.
Also is there a way i can make sure i have the head on level? ive never had one not sit level until the other one but with no compression on cyl 3 and 4 i have a feeling its not on right.

Former User

Is the mechanical timing perfect?

Hidenplanvew

Did you put the "Up" side of the head gasket umm "up"?


Did you make sure the block and head were flat? I think theres only like.05 wiggle room

SolScifen

yes, timing is right. and its not skipping teeth.
and theres only one way to put a headgasket on lol so ya its on right. i do think the one i bought isnt good quality though.

did the oil in cylinder compression test and results went up so suspecting my rings are just trash now. ordered new ones and a rebuild will be done when all parts get here.

Former User

Before you replace the rings, make sure that you just don't have a simple cylinder flooding problem.

Will the engine start after adding a tablespoon of oil to each cylinder?

Is the engine oil saturated with fuel?

With the key in ON(II), do any fuel injectors spray fuel continuously?

Do all 4 spark plugs have bright white spark?

SolScifen

dont know if it will start, both sets of plugs i have are now fouled out because of the fuel on them. but they will spark, just replaced cap, rotor, wires, and plugs last time i did the HG.
oil has no fuel in it.
and the injectors dont spray continuously, we thought something electrical might keep them spraying too much so we took them out and it would spray off and on like supposed to.

if i get new plugs, add oil to the cylinders and it even tries to start more than before does this mean its something else?
also like stated i think the HG i got this time isnt that good. is it possible its just not sealing right and causing air to seep through? or will even poor quality ones still seal?

Former User

What were the compression numbers after adding oil to the cylinders?

Is spark bright white at all four plugs? If so, I'd try starting the engine after adding some oil to the cylinders. If it starts and runs, let the engine fully warm up and then repeat the cylinder compression tests on the hot engine.

SolScifen

i think it was about 70-75 on cyl 1 and 2 and maybe around 10 on 3 and 4. will it even turn over with that low of numbers?
i have to go buy another plug to test for spark color

Former User

No -- Cyls 3 and 4 are too low. That's not a piston ring problem. You can do a cylinder leak down test to identify where compression is lost from Cyls 3 and 4. My guess is a warped head or even block mating surface.

SolScifen

alright, thats something else i was worried about cause it did overheat alot on this head.
i think im going to try and put the head that was recently on cause it did run and see if compression is any better

Former User

SolScifen

ok so i finally had money to go buy new plugs. tested for spark and only cyl 2 was firing all the time. cyl 4 fired once and 1 and 3 not at all.
i had to record for spark with my phone but i think it was a orange spark.
am i right to think that its gotta be the cap or wires and not the icm since cyl 2 was firing perfect?

Former User

Inspect/test the wires, cap, and rotor, and also resistance test the coil. Some auto parts stores will test the ICM for you. Call around to some local stores.

SolScifen

tested icm resistance and seems fine about .6 from two terminals and was reading 16.xx resistance to the coil.
wires read #1 9.48, #2 8.92, #3 7.03, and #4 6.48 while set to 20k on the multimeter.

Former User

There's no resistance test for the ICM, but there is for the coil.

SolScifen

alrite well im gonna take the icm to autozone and see what they say i guess. would it throw a code if it was bad? i dont have any at the moment but just wondering.

Former User

Call them. Some AZ employees don't realize that they can find the test on their computer system.

Not necessarily. Sometimes a bad ICM will throw code 15, but this does not always happen.

Did you resistance test the coil (see FAQs sticky for diagram)?

SolScifen

got the icm tested and failed. replaced and she runs again.
thanks for all the help man.

Former User