Well, it ran for about 15 minutes..

[mrmunky]

I finally got my car running after a lengthy waterpump and FPR replacement.. It was running fine, except for a loud clicking from around the lifters. A washer had gotten loose in the cam housing without my knowledge and was at some point stuck in between the #8 lifter and the corresponding cam lobe. I removed the cam tower and removed the washer from it, then reassembled it and started her up. It clicked quietly at first, but the noise quickly subsided and it sounded great. It ran for about 15 minutes, just idling and tweaking it on occasion to burn the oil off of the headers. It then started loping a little bit, so i shut it off and it stopped with an audible "clunk." I let it chill for about 3 minutes, then restarted it.. it ran terribly and within perhaps 5 seconds died with the same "clunk" noise. It was late so i decided let it be and get some rest. I went back out to try again today and it sounds like the starter has no resistance, it's spinning very fast and sounds high-pitched. However, the distributor rotor is still turning, and i could see the timing belt through the distributor inspection hole.

Any wild guesses as to what the hell it could be this time?
Any help is very much appreciated.

[mike944]

No resistance? and the cam still spins?

You have no compression. Why? could be plenty of things, although any of them would be considered a really strange occurance. one or two cylinders can loose compression due to internal damage, but all 4?

remove all 4 spark plugs, and use a strong flashlight to look into the cylinders for anything unusual (like holes in your pistons)

have a friend turn the crank by hand with a breaker bar, and make sure all of your pistons are moving correctly.

If all this looks good, you could have burned valves, valves that are not opening, valves that are not closing, valves that are bent, etc... anything that could cause lack of compression.

[fast924S]

Sounds like a timming problem

[Britwrench]

The belt has broken probably, the clunk may have been something like the balance shaft belt breaking. Pull the plugs and carefuly crank the engine by hand and watch the cam pulley to see if it does rotate. If it doesn't the valves are bent.

[mike944]

I was thinking of another possibility on the way home today. This does not explain any clunks, but it could explain why the starter motor is running like the engine is offering no resistance, but yet the cam (and the crankshaft) turning. It's also related to the work you just did. I know it's a long-shot, but here goes.

It is theoretically possible, that somehow, because of your work to the fuel system, you are getting a seriously wrong amount of fuel by the injectors. Maybe dirt got into the fuel system and has clogged the injectors. It's possible that this partial lack of fuel is causing the cylinders to fire *just* enough to help turn the engine over and make the starter sound like it has little resistance, but not quite enough to cause the engine to "catch".

Regardless, if your camshaft is truely turning, and your starter motor runs like it has no resistance, those are some very strange symptoms. This is a very unusual problem.

[fast924S]

Im thinking he skiped a tooth and missed timmed it when he reinstalled the cam housing. The timming is off and making the valves open at the wrong time thus making it seem like it has no compression. As for the clunking, could be a number of things but you may have bent a valve due to the timming being wrong

[AFJuvat]

My vote is broken belt or timing waaaaay off.

AFJuvat

[fast924S]

I dont think the belt is broken because he said the cam still turns

[Britwrench]

He only says the rotor is turning, nothing about actually seeing the cam turning. It could be that the "clunk" was something in the cam area and now what is happening is the cam belt is just turning the gear, possibly the cam is broken (seen that before). Maybe that washer wasn't the only one left in the cam box? Anyway, unscrewing the large plugs on top of the cam box gives visual access to the valve springs..crank the engine and see what is actually happening.
It could be that AF is right on and the cam timing wasn't right..because something came loose..seen that too. Anyway, it has bent valves.

[mike944]

Maybe he did not completely tighten the tensioner, and it worked it's way loose, and the loose belt managed to skip a tooth or two, or several. That would explain why it ran fine in the beginning (timing was correct), then it got worse (skipped one or two teeth) and now it won't run at all (skipped several teeth) That would also explain the clunks (valves into pistons) and the lack of compression.

Pull your timing cover, to see how loose your cam belt is.

[mrmunky]

nice tip mike. I set timing to TDC, top and bottom.. a loosening tensioner would give those exact symptoms. update soon!

[ronin]

don't worry. I can get you a good price on valves and pistons