I have been searching until my eyes bleed and I cant figure out if its a head gasket, or something else


Here is the problem, about a week ago my tensioner died which caused a mess of problems with my engine, the idler pulley blew up, as well as the tensioner pulley, but the T belt didn't break, so I didn't think I bent a valve, or anything, so I took it home and bought everything new (T belt, tensioner, water pump, bearings..ect) got the timing lined up right ,and went to crank it over and no fire, so I check to make sure the plugs are firing and yep they are good, and you can start to smell the fuel after a while so I knew there was fuel in there, but still no start , I "felt" checked the compression and all cylinders seemed to have compression, but I am going to buy a gauge today and go a check and I will throw up the numbers up as soon as I get them, I even opened up the valve cover and inspected the valves and what I could see looked good, there isnt even any carbon on cyl #4 spark plug, so im lost, I have been reading about how the 95's head gasket likes to go bad, could all that stuff of gone bad at once though? I really would like to know if anyone has any insight?!?! Thanks!

Originally posted by talon749
I have been searching until my eyes bleed and I cant figure out if its a head gasket, or something else Here is the problem, about a week ago my tensioner died which caused a mess of problems with my engine, the idler pulley blew up, as well as the tensioner pulley, but the T belt didn't break, so I didn't think I bent a valve, or anything, so I took it home and bought everything new (T belt, tensioner, water pump, bearings..ect) got the timing lined up right ,and went to crank it over and no fire, so I check to make sure the plugs are firing and yep they are good, and you can start to smell the fuel after a while so I knew there was fuel in there, but still no start , I "felt" checked the compression and all cylinders seemed to have compression, but I am going to buy a gauge today and go a check and I will throw up the numbers up as soon as I get them, I even opened up the valve cover and inspected the valves and what I could see looked good, there isnt even any carbon on cyl #4 spark plug, so im lost, I have been reading about how the 95's head gasket likes to go bad, could all that stuff of gone bad at once though? I really would like to know if anyone has any insight?!?! Thanks!

I bet the compression is going to be very low. You may have timed the motor 180* off.

should just fire right up if you did it right. I've changed the timing belt many times and that was the case every time.

yeah might want to check compression just too see if the valve are closing right. You made sure and spin that crank shaft a buncha time to see if the marks still line up right? Yeah I know the timing belt on the 420A is a bitch to work with.

You may have timed the motor 180* off.

How would that of happened?

Basically in a nutshell, one of the cams turned when you reinstalled the timing belt, you thought it was right, but it actucally was turned upside down, causing the intake and exhaust valves to open at the same time. Thus, being timed 180* off.

Did you check to make sure the timing marks were lined up?

Yes that would cause no compression right? I got a shitty auto zone comp tester and my numbers were 40-100-60-60 I don't trust that tester at all and im going to buy a good one tomorrow from my snap-on dealer, so I know I have some compression and my timing is all lined up right, so whats next? take the head off?

The easiest way to tell if your cams are out is to line up all of the timing marks. Take your valve cover off and make sure that the holes in the top of the cams are pointing up.

- Jason

well I ended up taking the head off the examine everything and I discovered a lot of wet carbon that was soaked in gas in cly #4..not sure what that was about but I'm about to do a total NA rebuild...I have been reading up on here about going high comp and Im going with a 10.5:1 JE piston, Eagle arms, the works, also im going to get my head ported out and throw in a set of Crower 2's, I have all the bolt-ons already so its time to utilize them

Originally posted by talon749
well I ended up taking the head off the examine everything and I discovered a lot of wet carbon that was soaked in gas in cly #4..not sure what that was about but I'm about to do a total NA rebuild...I have been reading up on here about going high comp and Im going with a 10.5:1 JE piston, Eagle arms, the works, also im going to get my head ported out and throw in a set of Crower 2's, I have all the bolt-ons already so its time to utilize them

Keep going and you'll be a candidate for 14's ;-)

Originally posted by bullettdsm

Originally posted by talon749 well I ended up taking the head off the examine everything and I discovered a lot of wet carbon that was soaked in gas in cly #4..not sure what that was about but I'm about to do a total NA rebuild...I have been reading up on here about going high comp and Im going with a 10.5:1 JE piston, Eagle arms, the works, also im going to get my head ported out and throw in a set of Crower 2's, I have all the bolt-ons already so its time to utilize them

Keep going and you'll be a candidate for 14's ;-)

hopefully..I plan on buying my bottom end from exile racing as I have read good things about their work on here, and possibly my head from them, or howell....that is if howell can supply me with the crower cams

So we look forward to hearing how happy you are when your parts arrive for Christmas lolz