rockman20
08-08-2008, 11:18 AM
I have a buddy that likes to tinker with cars. However, he tends to kind of screw things up at times. Okay........most of the time. :)
He has a 1967 Pontiac Firebird that he got for cheap. The car had been through a flood and hadn't been started for years and the engine was locked.
He did get the original engine running. He used Coke in the cylinders and they eventually broke free and he ran it for about 2 years before it finally gave out.
He had a 350 sitting in his garage that he bought off e-bay. Complete engine. That sat in his garage for about 4 years. When the engine in his Firebird quit, he decided the 350 would go in.
He had started to tear this engine apart a while ago and then lost interest so it sat partially disassembled. He put it back together, got it in the car, but can't get it to run. He said that he has spark and fuel, but can't even get a pop out of the thing. He got the engine on TDC, checked the distributer rotor, confirmed it was pointing towards #1, confirmed his wiring, confirmed his firing order, and still can't get anything.
So then he did a compression test. He told me that every cylinder had around 15 PSI except for #1 which came in at 30 PSI. He called me up all pissed off and telling me how he got took and everything else. After a long talk, I told him that I have never seen an engine lose all 8 cylinders.
He is using a compression tester that holds the compression on the gauge. We do not have a leak down tester. But I told him that I am guessing that he had the timing cover off. He did. I asked him about the timing chain. He said it was there and that he had removed it to check it.
AH HAH!!!!!! I am guessing that he did not get the valve timing right which would explain the low compression in every cylinder. Does this sound logical? I want to check that first because he really has no idea what he is doing when it comes to anything that doesn't just bolt on. Just wondering if you guys think that this is the culprit or could there be something else?
He has a 1967 Pontiac Firebird that he got for cheap. The car had been through a flood and hadn't been started for years and the engine was locked.
He did get the original engine running. He used Coke in the cylinders and they eventually broke free and he ran it for about 2 years before it finally gave out.
He had a 350 sitting in his garage that he bought off e-bay. Complete engine. That sat in his garage for about 4 years. When the engine in his Firebird quit, he decided the 350 would go in.
He had started to tear this engine apart a while ago and then lost interest so it sat partially disassembled. He put it back together, got it in the car, but can't get it to run. He said that he has spark and fuel, but can't even get a pop out of the thing. He got the engine on TDC, checked the distributer rotor, confirmed it was pointing towards #1, confirmed his wiring, confirmed his firing order, and still can't get anything.
So then he did a compression test. He told me that every cylinder had around 15 PSI except for #1 which came in at 30 PSI. He called me up all pissed off and telling me how he got took and everything else. After a long talk, I told him that I have never seen an engine lose all 8 cylinders.
He is using a compression tester that holds the compression on the gauge. We do not have a leak down tester. But I told him that I am guessing that he had the timing cover off. He did. I asked him about the timing chain. He said it was there and that he had removed it to check it.
AH HAH!!!!!! I am guessing that he did not get the valve timing right which would explain the low compression in every cylinder. Does this sound logical? I want to check that first because he really has no idea what he is doing when it comes to anything that doesn't just bolt on. Just wondering if you guys think that this is the culprit or could there be something else?