Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Replaced head gasket...still won't start

Hi all, here's the deal.

I bought a 1995 contour 2.0 for a daily driver. When I bought it, it had a blown head gasket. A buddy and myself tore the head down, got the head checked for cracks and cleaned up, and put it back together.

Here's the catch. When installing the intake cam, it cracked(was an old crack) and broke in half. I then got a cam from the junkyard, and installed. Still wouldn't run. Took the valve cover off, and noticed that the junk yard gave me an exhaust cam instead of an intake cam. Got the right cam, put everything back together, and it still doesnt' run. I'm getting 100psi of compression, spark, and fuel.

Would the valves have hit when the wrong cam was installed? I'm thinking they would have, seeing the intake and exhaust valves were opening at the same time since I had two exhaust cams.

Any help would be appreciated. I'd dont' want to tear this head off again unless I have too. Thanks.

Pull the head and repair damage. Check pistons and cylinder walls for cracks, gouges, etc. and repair...


Bob

So what you are saying is that the valves a probably bent? Pistons and cylinder walls were fine when I replaced the gasket.

The 2.0 is supposed to be a non-interference engine, valves won't hit piston, I don't know if you had 2 exhaust cams if that would still apply. If you have compression in all 4 cylinders pretty uniform, I believe the engine is mechanically ok, as long as the cam timing is correct. Compression should rise as the rings get oiled up. Check crankshaft position and cam position sensors, ignition coil pack, electrical wiring. Is there a few gallons of good gas in the tank?

Has the gas...we actually siphoned all the old gas out of the tank (car had sat for a while). Fuel pressure is good, new plugs, wires, and coil. Compression seems low at 100psi. My worry isn't necessarily the valves hitting the piston, its the valves hitting each other as they would be going up and down at the same time on th exhaust stroke.

100 PSI is enough to show valves are not stuck open. See if you get vacuum when cranking it over (bouncing gauge needle). Some CEG'ers have found the rings lose compression if the engine gets dry of oil, or has a lot of gas flooding the pistons (like when it doesn't start). How did you time the cams? I know it's tricky, but not firsthand [maybe another CEGer could help here, that succeeded doing it.]

what exactly does it do? crank but not fire? Start but stall immediatly.

Are you sure the timings correct? take the valve cover off and crank the motor till the number 1 and 4 piston are TDC and check the cams to see if they line up right..

It sounds like your timing is off.

Nope...cam timing and crank timing are on. It cranks but won't fire. Has spark. At times it seems like it wants to fire, but won't.

Check the IAC motor is connected, they get clogged up often, too. Does it pull any vacuum when you crank it over. Also, be sure the battery is fully recharged, they get "tired" quick.

Any more suggestions here? I pulled the head off again, and had the valves checked again, and they were fine. I'm lost now as to what to check next. I'm going to put it all back together again, and would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks guys ahead of time.