I recently (with the help of the shop manual and correct tools) installed valve springs and replaced the head gasket. Now after everythings back together the car won't crank.....i know the timing is correct, all bolts torqued to spec, all lines are connected, and i'm getting a spark.
it's gotta either be the fuel system or when i was installing the springs i used a rag to hold the valves closed. one of the rags got cought in the valve with the spring on and i pulled the rag out leaving a little cought in the valve. I figured it would burn out when i started it. could this cause a loss of compression in that cylinder and in turn not cause the car to start???
thanks for the help!!!

 

anyone??? would some cloth fibers cause a cylinder to not hold compression??

 

that wouldn't/shouldn't prevent the car from starting though.

 

the car doesnt crank or doesnt start? theres a difference between the two..
if it doesnt crank then theres something wrong with the starter connections..
if it doesnt start.. maybe you put the ignition plug wires on wrong.. wrong fireorder..

 

the rag shouldn't affect it. i replaced my valve stem seals and i was too lazy to go buy nylon rope to keep the valves up. i just used regular string that i cut off a mop head!! GHETTO!!! lol. it got stuck so i had to use mechanical fingers to pull em out. i went and got nylon rope. haha. but yeah, after i was done, it started right up. but then again. does your car crank or no?

 

did a compression test last night 0 10 20 0 psi
all i did was replace the head gasket and valve springs.....i know i torqued the head studs to spec.
i did use a 99 b16a2 head gasket for my jdm b16a but i don't think that would make a difference.
i don't think it could be the valves springs could it???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dcomer04 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">0 10 20 0 psi</TD></TR></TABLE>



Id say its one of two things. Firstt of all, did you adjust the valve lash or just leave them. How are the valve seals. Im willing to bet that you did something wrong on the valves or headgasket. The headgasket isnt a very hard job so id say if you followed the manual you probably did it right. The valves may be leaking though, so id search into that a little more

 

i didn't mess with the valve lash...the valve seals were fine before i took the head off....
i'm lost

 

You might have washed down the cylinders when you where working on the head. Take out your spark plugs pour about 2 tbs of oil down the hole. crank the engine over a few times and re test the compression. If this doesn't help I bet you messed up when you did the head work

 

thats no compression.. theres definetly something wrong with the headgasket.. did you touch all the valves, valve springs? maybe you put them in wrong...
mabye cam timing is off.. not letting air into the cylinders.. maybe the dowels on the head bottomed out.. holding the head up.. did you get it resurfaced?
i once found a rats nest in an air box and it clogged it completely.. the engine cranked so fast like it had no compression.. cleaned it out and it runs like new now.. just another thought

you should check the valve lash.. atleast try to wiggle the rockers while the lobe is not contacting the rocker.. see if it has any play.. should have a little while its not an intake or exhaust stroke.. it shouldnt of changed if you didnt get a valve job.. unless you didnt put the valve seats in or you used different ones..

 

some WD-40 might have gotten on the block surface when i had the head off....but would that cause no compression???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dcomer04 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">some WD-40 might have gotten on the block surface when i had the head off....but would that cause no compression???</TD></TR></TABLE>
As I said before it any easy test to do before you go the rought of taking everything apart agian. When you had the head off if you cleaned the cylinders down ie whipped them with a rag to remove any water or oil that ran down inside them cleaned them with wd40 or anything that removes oil...you would have taken the oil film off the cylinder walls and that cylinder will have no compression or very low compression. Add a few drops of oil to the cylinder crank the car over to spread the oil around then try a compression test. If the numbers came up thats a good sign they might not be to factory spec but should return after the car starts don't be surprised if it runs ruff for a few seconds it should smooth out. Trust me I had this happen when I did a head gasket the last time I washed the walls of #3 cylinder when I cleaned out the coolant. I was about ready to pull the head off the car until I did this there was zero compression on #3 it came back to 75 psi started the car it missed for a sec or 2 smoothed out and when I checked #3 again it was at 175psi

 

x2, if it was fine before theres only a few reasons you dont have compression and since you didnt mess with the valve lash i would start there and check the timing also it could be off and not holding any compression.

 

Did you drain the coolant before removing the head? Did any coolant spill into the cylinders? Like was said before, you could have "washed out" the walls with "foreign" substances. A few drops in each cyl, redue the test (cold results range from 10-30 psi lower than a warm test), and then list your findings.

GL!

 

id say definanelty valve lash. readjust the lash and then do another compression test i bet your valves arent closing all the way this is why you have low compression. also just to make sure do a leakdown test.