Just did a headgasket and timing belt. New headbolts and honda OEM gasket. Machine shopped milled 11 thousandths.
Car started ran fine for about 30 seconds. Then died and when you go to start it it sure isn't happy. Pretty sure it was timed right as I was doing it with a master tech.
I pulled plugs from head and saw smoke from cylinder 1. Where should I begin to diag some rockers had play im going to do a compression test later today.

 

It sounds like it jumped timing. Set the crank to TDC for #1, pull the timing cover and verify the cam gear is also at TDC. If not, re-set timing and follow the manual for tensioning the timing belt.

Please note that the indicator for cam TDC is different, based on which engine you have.

 

sorry but if a master tech can't do a simple headgasket/timing belt job, he obviously is clueless

 

Its d16y8. I had the gun sight aligned on the bottom and two timing marks on the cam lined up. I was doing it with Eric the car the guys method. He said the tension needs to be on cam crank side while the tech said tension needs to be on belt side. I think I was indeed correct but he had me re time it. Are all 3 supposed to line up on the crank gear or is it the just double lines up with the single mark on the crank?

 

And could the distributor cause this? It went in but the machine shop cleaned all my marks it went in easy but I thought if it doesn’t line up right the car won’t start.

 

For the Y8, you want the crank aligned to the single mark on the crank pulley, or if you have the crank pulley off, the pointer on the oil pump pointing to the notch in the timing belt pulley, and you want the cam gear UP to be pointing up, and the two notches in the cam gear even with the top surface of the head. Loosen the tensioner, install the belt, verify everything is aligned, then rotate the crankshaft counter-clockwise a few teeth to tension the belt, tighten down the tensioner, then put it back at TDC and check that everything is aligned. Once you have the tensioner tightened down, the front edge of your timing belt should not have enough slack to jump timing. I install my distributor approximately centered and have never had a startup issue due to distributor position. Once it warms up, the first thing I do is set timing.

 

Yeah we had the pulley line up with the timing marks and the marks with the balancer off. Everything seems correct there is a little slack on the cam crank side but not a lot. If it jumped time Would that be shown from a comp test? I’m going to run one and if it’s low comp I’m just gonna scrap this and go buy a non interference motor so I don’t gotta worry about stuff like this.

 

Whether or not a compression test tells you if you jumped timing depends on how far it jumped. The easiest way to tell if you've jumped timing is to pull the covers and look at the timing marks. It won't jump out of timing and then back in. If you line it all back up and all your marks are where they should be, it isn't timing.

Is the CEL on for anything? If so, what codes?

 

Cel is on but that’s for the 02 sensor since I wasn’t spending 400 on an exhaust manifold so I got a 40$ eBay header. No other codes besides that. Before I reassembled heads cleaned all debris and fluids out of block before reassembley. Going to check the timing But it was fine last night after this all happened I rechecked it. I’ll go give it another go check through again.

 

Okay so question. Is the lower timing cover supposed to line up with all 3 of the plastic marks on the cover or just the 2? I know the single on the harmonic balancer is the correct one. It lines up with all 3 so the 2 gun and the single below it. Cam still is at TDC. Motor turns over but makes a screeching noise when turned by ratched.

 

The indicators on the timing cover are to be used like a gun sight - sight down and align the single indicator inside the "V" and you should be looking at the one timing mark on the crank pulley.

Screeching noises are not good. Try to find out the source.

 

Its all still lined up and timed right. Car isn’t cranking that easy I’m wondering what would cause this. I cleaned all cylinders of all debris before assembly and torqued head bolts to 49lb ft.

 

This may be a dumb question but is there oil in the engine?

Timing belt should be tightened by loosening the tensioner bolt, turn the crank slightly counterclockwise to pull the slack out of the front of the belt (the side that doesn't have the tensioner) then tighten the tensioner bolt while holding the crank to keep the front of the belt taut. The tensioner bolt needs to be quite tight. Never crank or run the engine without the tensioner bolt properly tightened.

This can be done or re-done with the crank pulley and lower cover on, since there is a hole in the lower cover to reach the tensioner bolt. Then rotate the crank all the way around (counterclockwise) by hand two turns and check the marks again.

As for the squeaking, like others said, find it. Remove the alternator, A/C, and power steering belts to rule out those parts. The distributor can squeak or seize up, so when you have the crank and cam at TDC 1 take the cap off and confirm the rotor points to wire #1.

Then if it still won't start, run down the standard cranks but won't start troubleshooting drill. Assume nothing.

 

Yeah theres oil. I put more oil in since the cylinder head was gonna be dry. That’s how I set tension originally but the “master tech” said that was wrong and tension needs to be on tensioner side. The belt chirp was from AC pulley too loose although I noticed the belt gets hot so maybe now too much tension
the other chirp is when you turn the motor by hand and it’s nearly not as easy to turn it over by hand as it was before. I ran a comp test and cylinder 1 was at 120 but cars slow to crank now and it’s not the battery. I’m pretty sure the engine is toast at this point. Or at least much more toast then it was before.

 

Figured I’d give an update. Sometimes a bad thing is a good thing. The motor was not locked or did the valves hit the pistons. The AC belt had too much tension on it and that is what was causing the hard to turn motor over by hand. Started car and it was running fine bam belt snapped in half. Car idled completely fine and waited for fan to come on and off 2 times. I did notice the AC tensioner adjuster is kind of digging into the timing cover. Is that normal or do I need to just cram the cover in. It’s contacting on the top bracket that holds the motor mount. Doesn’t seem to want to sit flush unless I remove that rubber seal.

 

You might need to remove the crank pulley to remove and re-attach the lower cover properly.

Also the A/C idler / tensioner can be put together wrong and drag. There are a couple of washers and bushings involved. Is the idler in line with the crank and A/C pulleys? Snapping the belt suggests that something is misaligned.

 

It was slanted slightly more then likely due to the fact it isn’t correctly because of how the cover is. I’m just so happy this happened over a locked motor. I’m just going to run no AC for a while. I do notice the timing belt has a little chirp probably from being too tight so might just loosen the tensioner and I’d assume the tensioner would self adjust to the right tension.

 

You can repeat the timing belt tensioning process-- loosen bolt, turn crank counterclockwise to pull the slack out of the front, letting the spring on the tensioner take the slack out of the back, then tighten the bolt. Do not push on the tensioner more than the spring does or the belt will be too tight.