As the title says, I changed out the HG and now the car won't start. It's a D15B7. I have a spark and the tail pipe smell like fuel so I'm assuming it's also getting gas. The fuel pump is priming and there is pressure at the filter. I had the head resurfaced, valves lapped and had the valve seals replaced. The valve cover and thermostat ground straps are connected. I believe I connected everything that I disconnected before. The No. 1 cylinder was at TDC when I put the head back on and so was the cam pulley. I then adjusted the valves, which weren't too bad as I just did that not too long ago. It turns over but doesn't even begin to catch. Now I'm ready to pull my hair out.

Does anyone have any idea at all as to what I should do next?

 

Double check the mechanical timing and compression test the cylinders.

 

Thanks for the reply. I will check the timing when I get home. How do I go about testing the compression? Can I rent the tool at autozone? Getting the head on one of the dowels was a little difficult. I'm hoping that the head is completely seated!

 

Some auto parts stores offer a free rental for the compression gauge. Click the compression link in my signature.

Below is how the mechanical timing should look. Only turn the crank pulley counterclockwise.

 

harbor freight (if there is one near you) has them for cheap. If you need to test compression. Have you tested for spark yet? because that would be the next best thing to do, before you even test compression.

 

I have spark. That was my first thought too. Harbor Freight is about a 25 minute drive away. Considering that my car won't start it's probably more like a 5.5 hour walk. I'll just rent one from autozone in the morning. Thanks for the tip though.

 

have you called to autozone and made sure that they have them for rental? because i called them in my area and they didn't have them for rental.

 

Yeah I just called them. They've got one and they put it on hold for me.

 

You say that the number 1 cylinder was at top dead center but did u double check the timing on the timing marks it would only take a min and that would make total sense

 

Right. Well here's the catch. Not only do none of the notches on my crank pulley have any coloring any more, none of them line up with the pointer on the lower timing belt cover when both the cam and the pointer on the oil pump do. I noticed this when I changed the timing belt. I'm assuming that at some point someone replaced the pulley with the wrong one. I don't know. So for me to check the timing I will need to remove the crank pulley. With no impact gun and no pulley that accommodates the tool for the job. I don't have anything to do tomorrow until the evening so I'll have to deal with this then. But I can tell you for certain sure. The No.1 cylinder was at TDC when I put the head on. There is no way to miss something like that. And I certainly had the head at No. 1 cyl. at TDC when I put the timing belt on it. Also when I adjusted the valves I didn't hear any valves bumping into any pistons. But I'll check it any way. I know that the belt didn't jump a tooth when I tensioned it because I've had that happen before and I learned my lesson real good that night. This time I marked both the belt and cam pulley before tensioning so I'd know. .I also watched it like a hawk. Tomorrow, compression test and pull that damn crank pulley of and make sure the timing is correct.

Thanks for all the input guys. This morning I was ready to throw myself in front of a bus. Beginning to calm down a bit now.

 

Did you lose or forget to install the small metal key that fixes the position of the crank pulley on the crankshaft?

 

Well the good news is that its a honda and no matter whats wrong with it you can fix it for under $200 thats what i love about honda's i just wish d series were not so cool i used to be able to pick up a d16 for like $100 complete now non vtec go for like 350. Good luck man dont stress

 

The woodruff key? No it's properly in there. The pulley is consistently of the same amount in the the same direction. It was like that before I ever took the pulley off. Maybe it's a POS aftermarket pulley.

 

Get a stock crank pulley from a junk yard so that you can easily verify the mechanical timing and also set the ignition timing.

 

Results are in. Cyl.1 about 120, Cyl. 2 is about 90, Cyl 3 is about 5 and Cyl. 4 is about 60. So it looks like I screwed the pooch when I put the head back on. Like I said, I had a hard time getting it on the dowels. One was in the head and the other one was in the block. Once I had it all lined up it didn't really want to seat all the way. I got the bolt off the crank pulley but haven't checked the timing yet. Haven't even taken the pulley off. Looks like it doesn't matter if my timing is off any way.
WTF do I do now?

 

Replace the valves and have the head checked at your local machine shop (bring them the new valves and have them do a valve job if the head is still good) or try and find a good cylinder head from what was a good running engine and toss it on complete with valves already in it, etc.

Maybe this is motivation for a VTEC head swap?

 

I just took the head to a shop and had them resurface it, grind the valves, lap the seats, replace the valve seals and I saw them test it for vacuum. It was fine. So I don't think it's a head problem.

 

Side note:

I try rotating the crank to a position where none of the pistons are close to TDC so that when bolting the head back on there is zero chance for piston/valve contact. After everything is torqued back down I'd then set the timing marks to TDC, etc. before putting the t-belt back on.

Theoretically speaking if you had all the timing marks lined up when you bolted the head back on no piston to valve contact should have occurred, but maybe something got spun/rotated at some point before you rotated the assembly by hand prior to cranking it?

I'd still want to check the timing before tear down to see if it played a role in the bent valves.

Also when you tear it down check to see WHERE the valves are bent. If they're bent towards the stem end, and not the face end, then they might have been bent during the rocker install/torque sequence.

 

So you are thinking that the valves are bent and this is the reason for the low compression? You don't think that maybe the head just isn't seated properly?

Have you read through the entire thread so far? I'm glad for all of your input but I think you might be missing some things. If valves are bent then it's not at the top because I successfully adjusted the valve clearance.

 

you ****ed up the headgasket when putting it on for sure. Pull the head back off and observe the carnage. You really have to make sure that the head is completely flat on the blcok when you are changing the headgasket, its easy to **** it up and end up with the head not sitting flat. Sometimes even the bolts will go on but the head wont be flat. This happened with my ARP studs in my built D. The nuts went on and locked down but the head wasnt flat. My friend started looking at it from the side and hes like "man the head is not flat", and we had to pull it off and do it again. Otherwise it would have blown the gasket (if it even started).

 

OK, thanks.

So I guess I'm going to order a new gasket and dowels right now. Take it all apart again today and put it back together tomorrow when the new gasket comes in. Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure the head is on properly? Should I oil the dowels or something? This time I'm going to do the whole process with the crank pulley off so I can know for sure that the timing is square. And I guess I'll look for messed up valves too. Would it be obvious that the valves are messed up when viewing it from the bottom?

Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

It does sound like the problem was caused by a head installation gone bad, though before you pull the head off, you may want to check the mechanical timing. If it's off, it may be worthwhile properly resetting the mechanical timing and then repeating the compression tests.

 

Let me make a suggestion:

Buy an OEM Honda head gasket for the 96-00 Civic EX.



Click HERE to Buy it for $24.69 from Majestic Honda

It's metal, it's OEM, and it slightly raises compression while also being a better design then the OEM fiber crap gasket.

I used one in a non-VTEC D16A6 build of mine that had 11:1CR and it ran 100% perfect (still does) for going on 7 years. I went by the 1996 Honda Civic EX head bolt torque sequence/torque specs:

 

Without taking the valves out you could always take the cam out, turn the head upside down and make sure you push all the valves closed, then pour a thin, non corrosive fluid into each combustion chamber such as WD40, or brake clean, and see if any of them leak out. If you make sure all the valves are shut tightly and any of the fluid leaks out faster on the cylinders that you got lower CR readings than you have bent valves.

Best way is to remove the valves and roll them on a glass surface to see if they are bent.

Shiny spots on the valves where they hit pistons are also a dead give away.

Also I have to ask you:

WHY DID YOU REPLACE THE HEAD GASKET TO BEGIN WITH?

I'm wondering if you had enough coolant washing the cylinders down if it could have damaged the cylinder walls/piston rings.

Also if it overheated badly enough you might have some seized piston rings, causing such horrible compression readings even if there's no issue with the head.

You might also want to try a "wet compression" test where you drop a teaspoon or so of engine oil in each cylinder, spin the engine over without plugs in it, and then redo the compression testing. If the numbers change dramatically it's more likely you've got a bottom end problem in the form of cylinder walls/pistons/piston rings.

 

About the 96-00 EX gasket. It's for a 1.6 no? My engine is a D15B7 so Imagine it doesn't fit.
The engine never really over heated. Never once got to the red line.
The car drove when I took it apart. I just idled like **** and was beginning to run rough too.
This is why I changed the head gasket. https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/temp-going-up-down-2834031/

I just made sure the timing was dead on. I took the pulley off the crank, lined everything up, and ran the compression test again. The results were basically the same.

Thanks for all the help guys.