Well, I adjusted my valves today...everything seemed to go fine. I put everything back together, started the car up fine. It ran about 15 seconds and stalled. Now it doesn't start at all. Anyone have any ideas of what it could be? When I try to start it now, it cranks like it is about to start, but doesn't ever get there. I used the Helms manual to do the valve adjustment and I am fairly mechanically inclined, but I just can't figure out why it won't start. I've already called to see if I can drop it off at the dealer, but I'll probably end up bringing it to a locally owned shop instead if I can't figure it out. Let me know what you guys think it could be.

 

Try to determine if it isn't starting because of lack of spark or fuel and work your way back. It could be as simple as a connector that didn't get put back on.

 

All you can do is check the fuel lines connected- the fuel pump fuse good, is there fuel- is there spark??
Is every single wire you removed hooked back up in the right place
The dealer is not the place for this job as they will do exactly what I just said-for 100 bucks an hours
recheck your work is always the first thing to do

 

I would recheck all the work you did. Make sure you didnt leave any thing unplugged. Double check the fuses.

 

Sounds good, I'll take a look at it today. More than likely it seems like it would probably be that I'm not getting fuel for some reason right? Since it started, then stalled. If for some reason I screwed up the valve adjustment, would that make it not start?

 

Yes, it is possible. The valves might be too tight, and you do not have proper compression I would think they would have to be extremely tight for this to happen.
I am not sure how you did the adjustment, but there should be a gap between the valve and cam lobe, when the lobe if off the valve. If there is not, there are too tight.

 

Like he said, ^ If you did it wrong the valves may be too tight.

 

I am sure the helms does mention it, but to make sure, when adjusting the valve, make sure the row that you try to adjust is at TDC. Adjust them properly, then rotate the cankshaft for the next row of valves. If you didn't adjust them at TDC, more likely it is the problem.

 

Yeah, that's how I did it. After having a couple of people look at it, most people are saying that it seems like the valve adjustment is fine, but maybe I don't have a good seal on the intake manifold or cylinder head. Maybe a gasket is pinched or something along those lines. I checked and I am definitely getting spark, not sure about fuel though. I'm not sure where the injectors are to be honest and I haven't looked it up. But I'd like to see if I'm getting fuel or not. I don't really have the time to mess with it during the week because I go to school right after I get out off work. We'll see what happens though. Hopefully it's something simple.

 

If it were a gasket i would assume that you would get it to run, just poorly with hissing. You shouldnt have had to disconnect anything fuel related to do this. Only thing i can think of is that you left a sensor unplugged under teh IM thats critical. I would pull the upper IM off and RECHECK every thing.

 

^^^that's my plan when I am able to find some time to do it. I hope that as soon as I pull the IM off, it's staring me in the face!

 

I was able to pull everything apart checked everything and put it back together. Still nothing. So I brought it to a local mechanic, he did the same and still nothing. When he got everything back together he got it to run again for about 15 secs then it stalled again. Now he cannot figure out whats wrong with it. He said it's acting like it's not getting spark because when he tries to start it now, the tach doesn't move. He's gonna look at a couple more things tomorrow, but he's checked a few things and what he has looked at seems to be good. So back to square 1 ... I have no idea what's wrong with it and I'm wondering how much this bill will be.

 

Hummmm. Just for grins is it possible to have him hook a scan tool to it to see if there is any code?? It sounds by your description that the CKP sensor isnt working or getting signal??

 

He said that he scanned for codes and didn't get anything but he was going to check again this morning. What is a CKP sensor? He did say something about a sensor as well, but I am not sure exactly what he said.

 

this is why dropping the 100 bones for the valve lash adjustment is totally worth it! not that i would not try to do it myself, I like doing the work myself but sometimes the 100 bucks is well spent. goodluck in your adventure.

 

Much more than $100 unless you have a hookup. The dealer was about $350 for a valve adjustment, but I know you can get it done cheaper than that.

 

CKP crank shaft position sensor. But the more i thought about it the more it doesnt make sense. You werent any where near it. The only sensor you were near would the the TDC sensors on the front camshaft.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm an idiot though...I managed to switch the coolant hose with an intake hose, and that was the reason that it wouldn't start. Swapped them back around and viola...it started. It had to burn off the coolant that got into the engine but it runs okay now. I got a CEL (O2 sensor) and reset it, it stayed off for a while but came back. I'm gonna change my oil and clean my air flter tomorrow, reset it again and see what happens. Where is the other O2 sensor on our cars? I know there's the one right before the cat, but I am not sure where the other is. I see it on the diagram from automotiveparts.org but that doesn't help much. Which one is more likely to be bad? Probably the one before the cat I'm assuming, right?
So anyhow, lesson learned. I did all that work adjusting the valves (which came out fine according the guy I brought it to) but i switched 2 damn hoses and have to deal with all this crap. Next time, I'm labeling them before I take my car apart. Thanks again for all the info.

 

Get 2 cans of Seafoam- one goes thru the vac line into the intake manifold to clean valves and pistons, 1/2 can in the gas and 1/2 in the engine 10 minutes before change
That stuff will fix you right up

O2s are on the exhaust pipe, just look in front and back of the cat- follow the wire to the big thing sticking out of the pipe

 

Fortunately your car didn't start for you when the hoses were switched. Glad to hear that your back up and running again.

I find that taking digital pictures before taking apart stuff helps when you go to put it back together.

 

i had a feelin it was some stupid mistake like that. you should always label when u take them off. makes life a lot easier

 

I'll definitely run the seafoam through today. Then I'll do the oil change and see if I can clear the CEL. Then if it comes back, I'll be changing an O2 Sensor.

It still kills me that I did the hard part right but screwed up something so dumb. I'll definitely be taking pics and labeling next time, no more of this crap.