Before I light my car on fire

[freakosaurus]

ok, update time:

compression test results:

front head (nearest bumper) all very low. ie. 90, 70, 70

rear head (by windshield) 150, 120, 120

So, I figure that I bent valves.

BUT WAIT!

I rip my front head off and have a peeksy:
-no bent valves (put water on intake side and it holds water just fine)
-not even a ding on any of the pistons

WTF?! why such shitty compression?

Keep in mind that car was running fine before, so I am doubting worn rings or anything for that matter on the lower end.

/cry

[jwetzler]

this is going to sound stupid, but have you checked to make sure your MAF is plugged in securely. If it's not, it will cause all sorts of sputtering bad idle issues.

[jwetzler]

Originally Posted by freakosaurus

ok, update time:

compression test results:

front head (nearest bumper) all very low. ie. 90, 70, 70

rear head (by windshield) 150, 120, 120

So, I figure that I bent valves.

BUT WAIT!

I rip my front head off and have a peeksy:
-no bent valves (put water on intake side and it holds water just fine)
-not even a ding on any of the pistons

WTF?! why such shitty compression?

Keep in mind that car was running fine before, so I am doubting worn rings or anything for that matter on the lower end.

/cry

make sure you have the throttle plate open all the way when you are doing the compression test.

On the cylinders that are low in compression, add some oil directly in them and see if that raises compression. If so, could be the rings.

[freakosaurus]

Ok, I'll do a wet compression test. I really doubt rings though as it was running beautifully before this. Can i reuse my headgasket? my car hasn't started since i put it in, therefore it hasn't been heated/seated yet right?

P.S. i did the original tests with the upper plenum completely off... that's a good way to ensure WOT right?

[jwetzler]

Originally Posted by freakosaurus

Ok, I'll do a wet compression test. I really doubt rings though as it was running beautifully before this. Can i reuse my headgasket? my car hasn't started since i put it in, therefore it hasn't been heated/seated yet right?

P.S. i did the original tests with the upper plenum completely off... that's a good way to ensure WOT right?

yeah, doing it with the upper plenum off is fine.

If it's a new headgasket and the engine hasn't been ran that long, then it should be fine to re-use it. did you torque it down to spec? I think you're supposed to torque the heads down to like 60 ft/lbs, break the head bolts loose, then re-torque them all down to 90 ft/lbs.

[freakosaurus]

Mitsu gave me a revised spec sheet. i tightened them in sequence, then broke each one loose and retorqued. ill put er all back together today and run new comp tests. i'll update later tonight :-S

[freakosaurus]

Ok so here is where im at now!

I found a bunch of old gasket goo on the bottom of my head when i ripped it off. I cleaned that off and then reassembled everything. still crap compression. I added a little bit of oil to the plug holes and the compression is now good. I know you are all pointing your fingers at worn rings but i assure you that they are not. i believe that the bad compression was just because i wiped everything completely dry when I had the head off. Anywho. She JUST about starts, but she still wont catch. my timing is dead on and the cas is aligned properly. Any final thoughts before i get this HOORE flatdecked to a shop?

[defgh1]

Only thing I can think off is to set the CAS timing: Stealth 316 - Ignition Timing - DOHC

Doug H

[freakosaurus]

I gave up :-( it's at a dodge dealership right now

/cry

I seriously tried everything.

-Rebuilt ECU
-CAS
-Timing
-Compression
-Spark
-Fuel
-Praying hahah

The only thing that I didn't test was my fuel pressure. I know that the injectors were squirting fuel, I just had no apparatus for tersting the actual pressure.

More on that... the reason that I would question my fuel pump was because I was plugging/unplugging it to run the fuel out of my system with the battery still attached. That shouldn't bother anything should it?