after my headgasket job that i just finished tonight, i went to start up my car and all it does crank, it won't turn over. every once in a while, while i'm cranking it it will backfire, but that's about it. i'm thinking it's probably something dumb that anyone that's done their headgasket before would be able to help me with, i'm thinking i probably forgot to hook something up. what do you think? caust i don't kno

sounds like the timing is off...i really hope it isnt for your sake..its a bitch to redo

EclipsedChef was my first name..Member #460!

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I'll be the no0b and say "plug in your coil pack?"

Check the following...

Cam position sensor on the driver's side of the head, in the front part

Coil Pack

Injector harness

Crank position sensor


That's about all it can be, unless the timing is off. How's compression?


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ok well timing is perfect. the picture below is of my timing. the cams are perfectly lined up with the crank at TDC. i don't know how timing could be a problem. it better not be, lol. compression... i don't know, i do not have a compression tester. i should def. get one though for times like these. The1Bill, i'm gonna go check out those things right now, thank you for your suggestions. keep em comin though if you think of any other possiblities

ok, this is bad, correct me if i'm wrong, but... timing can still be 1 full crank turn off even though the TDC and cams are lined up. i'm thinking that might be my problem. like... it's firing pistons 1 and 4 when they're at the top when it should be firing 2 and 3 and is firing 2 and 3 when they're at the top when it should be firing 1 and 4. correct me if i'm wrong... i hope i'm wrong.

ok this is weird, i just went and did a little test. i lined up my cam gears which would also mean that TDC is lined up because i know that i lined those up perfectly. sooo.... with my cam gears lined up, i took out all of my spark plugs and stuck a thin metal rod down in all of the spark plug holes... piston 1 and 4 are at the top of their stroke, 2 and 3 are at the bottom. 1 and 4 are a good 3" higher than 2 and 3. i assume that means that they are at the top of their stroke. when i look down into the spark plug hole, pistons 1 and 4 are right there, at the very top. so, what does this mean, is my timing off or not? i'm confused b/c TDC means that the #1 piston is at the top of its stroke and my #1 is definitly at the top. when i took the spark plugs out, i smelled them, they smell very gasy, as they should. so the combustion chambers are def. getting fuel. my coil pack is plugged in. my cam position sensor is plugged in. i don't know where my crank position sensor is so i don't know how to check that. when i crank the motor, it doesn't sound bad, it sounds perfectly normal (if that means anything). ok well i'm gonna go play some more, please give me some more suggestions, i really need some help.

i'm thinking maybe i flooded my engine because when i was messing with the throttle cable. i was pulling it all the way out which would be the equivalent of pushing and holding the pedal all the way down

please hel

You need to have the crank on the compression stroke. Pull the #1 plug, put your finger or something that will seal the hole on the spark plug hole. Then turn the motor over and when you feel the compression push your finger or whatever you used off the hole then that is the compression stroke. Then just fine tune the piston to top dead center. Now make sure your cams are aligned. Then you will know that the timing is more then likely the problem here.
Peace

ASE certified master auto technician

Yes, when all of your timing marks are lined up, your #1 and #4 pistons should be at TDC. Anytime the crank arrows are in line, your 1 and 4 pistons are at TDC. When all the marks are in line, that means the #1 cylinder is at its TDC of the compression stroke. Sounds like your timing is ok, and maybe you just forgot a harness somewhere...Check for spark- just pull all of your plugs out, and put one plugged in to the plug wire, and have the spark plug resting on a metal surface of the engine(a good ground), and crank the motor. YOu should see a nice blue spark jump the gap in the plug. Do a compression test to, just to be sure thats ok..

13.5 @108 MPH-2.2 60ft(stupid FWD!)
S16G @ 18 PSI/FMIC/Running on MegaSquirt II (Now with sequential
fuel injection)
My webpage: http://eclipsed4evr.home.comcast.net
-1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS-T- "Toy"
-1992 Plymouth Laser Turbo AWD(SOLD)
-2000 Honda CR-V(daily)

ok XtremeRS, thank you very much for your reply first of all. before you even replied, i did pull all the plugs individually and checked for spark. for some reason, i pulled #4 cylinder spark plug first. with all other three in, my dad held the plug that was connected to the spark plug wire onto the valve cover, he saw a spark. (and for some reason also at the instant that he saw the spark, we heard a loud backfire). so then we went back to #1 cylinder, no spark. #2, spark. #3, spark. #4(again, for the heck of it), no spark. now the first thing i thought of was the trouble that i've been havin recentely with starting, sometimes it starts sometimes it doesnt' even start to crank. i'm thinking it might be my coilpack going bad. i dunno. i also was reading in other posts that our ignition relay really sucks. if i knew where that was, i would check it. one more thing i heard might cause probs is the crank angle sensor. again, i don't know where that is or i would be checking that. please reply with some more knowledge. i really greatly appreciate anyone who takes time to ready my lengthy ass posts and actually interpret them enough to give me a good response. thanks to all who respond and how have resonded and who have yet to respond

are you sure you don't have the intake and exaust cam gears on backwards? They look the same but from what I've read on here the teeth are a little different.

no i definitly did not switch those up, i did not take cam gears off of the cams. the exhaust cam is longer than the intake cam anyways because of the cam position sensor. so i definitly did not switch those up. i need some more info. i'm gonna try to have a friend come over with an extra coil pack. thank you for the suggestion though. every suggestion helps. please keep em coming

anybody, anything else, pleas

If your getting spark at all, your crank sensor is ok. Our cars fire 1 and 4 at the sametime and 2 and 3 at the same time...otherwise known as waste spark. If your getting spark at 4 and not 1, your coil is defective. If you have a scan tool, you can also verify cam and crank sensors are working by watching the data list. Our cars will also set a timing error if the cams are not in sync with the crank...so check your fault codes. Last but not least, once you get spark at all four cyls, reassemble everything and crank the engine over with the gas pedal to the floor. This will effectvely shut the injectors off (clear flood mode), and get rid of any fuel or anything else that might be in there from the headgasket job. Crank for a good 45sec with the pedal down, keep cranking and let up on the pedal slightly. If it starts to fire, hold the pedal to the floor again and repeat until it eventually starts. I have probably done atleast 30 420A headgasket jobs, and some can take some effort to start afterwords. Good luck!

Are you POSITIVE your timing is correct? When the crank gear TDC arrows are lined up, the cam gear marks should be like this -- The cam gear marks will only line up every 2 revolutions of the crank.

13.5 @108 MPH-2.2 60ft(stupid FWD!)
S16G @ 18 PSI/FMIC/Running on MegaSquirt II (Now with sequential
fuel injection)
My webpage: http://eclipsed4evr.home.comcast.net
-1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS-T- "Toy"
-1992 Plymouth Laser Turbo AWD(SOLD)
-2000 Honda CR-V(daily)

i'm fixed now, i got things fixed on wed. it was my timing afterall, i'm sorry for being a jackass. a mitsu tech friend of my moms came over and gave me hand, things were back to normal in an hour. thanks for takin time to give me suggestions though