I finished up the head install tonight, and now the car wont start. Symptoms: Car turns over but sounds funny, it has a whine to it. Car has spark/fuel/air. No CEL's. I havent done a compression check yet, that comes tomorrow, but when turning the motor over after the timing install i heard the cylinder build compression. I changed the cams from the milled head to the new head, i put them on EXACTLY how they came off the old head, they were 180 degree apart from each other. Timing was dead on from crank to cam. When i installed the cams, the gears were set to the milled head specifications but after i lined the gears up for perfect timing THEN i moved the gears back to stock, would this cause a starting issue?

Now, the car started for all of 15 seconds. The intake was sucking very loudly, the exhaust was pulsing very fast, and when i gave it gas it tried to die, it wouldnt even rev. I checked the ignition relay to make sure it didnt fall out and it was fine. All the wiring is connected. Head is torqued to the correct specs, ALL bolts are torqued correctly. I just dont know what else to do! I really think its the timing and im going back tomorrow to mess around some more and your help is greatly appreciated.

I don't know if it will make a difference, but I've always set the timing with the marks beside each other in the center. It sounds like a timing issue to me, but I could be wrong.

yeah the timing marks were directly across from each other, and the crank was TDC with the cams dead on. I dont know how else it would be timing unless i fucked up on the install of the cams.

ok... i know you say its not a timing issue...but to make sure...do all 4 spark plugs spark? if the timing is off 180degrees, it will only spark 2 plugs as a safety thing.... i dont know what else to suggest....unless there is a clog in the fuel line/filter...or plugs not gapped correctly?? you can try the normal things that people suggest..ie: cam sensor, crank sensor, and maybe even teh map sensor.... let us know what it is when you figure it out..
doug

yeah i only checked one plug wire and it fired. All of my sensors were working fine before the head install. I guess i'll figure it out in the next two days..anyone else?

This may sound stupid but did you put something in the wrong place? Like your exhaust cam in your intake cam location? Exhaust cam has the cam angle sensor on it.

Other than that did you make sure you reconnected everything correctly? LIke injectors & what not.

um.. aaron, you cant reverse the cams. atleast w/out knowing your doing it. timing is prolly 180 off.

Originally posted by grain
um.. aaron, you cant reverse the cams. atleast w/out knowing your doing it. timing is prolly 180 off.

Never done that before so I wasn't sure :) Just trying to come up with suggestions, sorry for sounding dumb.

The cams are in the correct position, but im really not 100% sure that they arent 180 degrees off. Today im tearing it down again and checking for sure. With the crank at TDC, the exhaust cam dowel should be up, and the intake dowel should be down correct? Everything on the motor was hooked up correctly, so i know it cant be something like that.

if the timing is 180 off, you wont get all 4 to spark...thats the easiest way to check that
doug