KADE compression problem

[kingkilburn]

I recently did my head gasket. I got the timing set(as far as I can tell) and the head sealed well. The gaskets around the EGR and between the upper and lower intake did not seal.

The engine ran but would not idle due to unseal intake. It drove for about 5 miles and stopped while in gear at about 35 mph(it felt like it stalled out), Now I figured it just died because of the intake but as I rolled down the street it would not fire when I tried to start it. So I took it to my mechanic and he did a compression check, the center cylinders had zero compression and the outer two had about 180.

What do you guys think? I'm hopping that the timing is off but I don't think that would cause this. I really hope it isn't the rings, I don't even see how they could instantly go bad like that.

Help me out guys. I was supposed to drive this thing to Sacramento in a few weeks. If I can't get this running in time I wont be able to attend Wyotech.

[slider2828]

Timing.... That is pretty abnormal... Put a timing gun to it if you can start it.... but do a leak down test... that can tell you more definitely if it is compression or timing as you can hear where it is leaking from....

[kingkilburn]

It ran for a while but It wont start now, it will turn over. I think it's timing because it ran great before. I don't see how it can go from even compression across all cylinders to zero in two of them instantly.

I'll look into that leak down test.

[louisdaboois]

take the intake manifold off and get it to seal all the way. when doing a compression test, air could be leaking from the two runners coinciding with cylinders causing it to not hold compression. take care of that first off, cause thats, imo, the easiest problem to tackle at this moment. Then, go with timing, etc, etc. if that doesnt fix it.

[kingkilburn]

Could you recommend a good/easy way of sealing the intake and egr? Would a liquid gasket be appropriate for the intake?

[louisdaboois]

you can use a thin layer of RTV. or... if you want to go old school, you can cut out the outline of the mating surface out of a cereal box and use it as a gasket, haha. Since you dont have to worry about super high temps, you can really use anything.

[kingkilburn]

How abut the egr? My fingers are like sausages and I'm not sure I can really get at it.

Thanks for the help by the way.

[louisdaboois]

haha its all good. i'd take the intake manifold completely off first, just so you can have room to work. you can do the same for the egr stuff. I'd use Red or copper RTV silicon (sp?). just enough to get a nice layer, you dont want it to squeeze out into the plenum, the stuff's messy as hell.

[gotta240]

I'd almost bet money you f'd up the head gasket install. Esp. since the egr and intake are leaking, that leads me to think it may be an errored install.

[slider2828]

Lol didn't even read that part of the intake.... man yah seal it or comp test won't work.

[kingkilburn]

MY mechanic seems to think that the pistons hit the valves on cylinders 3 and 4. I'll know when I get it home and take the head off... again.

[slider2828]

If timing was on, valve hitting the pistons is nearly impossible. Seal the intake and try again... before ripping the head off.

[turboboost12004]

do the leak down test, make sure that the cyl that reads 0 is on the tdc.....my teacher told me so....lol

[slider2828]

^^^^ lol, hahaha leak down with that stethoscope for the win....