no compression on all 4 cylinders

[rkreimer10]

ok so here it goes. i just put my redtop sr back in my 93 coupe and finished hooking everything up. while the motor was out i replaced oil pump, timing chain, valve seals, head gasket, and every seal and gasket is brand new. i have a band new gt28rs turbo, new denso 550cc injectors, used z32 maf, new tomei plug, wiring specialties engine harness, rs-enthalpy tuned ecu. i tried cranking the car and all it does is crank. i have spark and fuel, but no compression. i read 0 on all four cylinders. now heres the weird thing. i put a screw driver in cylinder one while at tdc and started turnin the motor by hand watching the cams. as the piston went down the valves stayed shut when it got to the bottom and started coming back up the exhaust valve opened and when the piston reached the top (180* from tdc) the exhaust valve finished closing and the intake valve started opening up and finally closed when the piston reached the bottom. now on its way back up (this is now the compression stroke) both valves remained closed untill the piston started going down again, then on the way up the exhaust valve started opening again. i did this numerous times and their was no change so i know my base timing is on. i checked all 4 cylinders this way. i know my rings are good i checked them while the motor was out. cylinder walls look like they were just honed so no signs of unusual wear. head gasket is brand new and torqued to spec. so why am i not getting any compression? checked my buddies car with the same comp. tester and it worked fine. so thats not the problem. someone please help me.

[r1jlewis]

Only thing it would be is it's 180 out. I bet when your #1 piston is all the way up (on it's real compression stroke) that your front cam lobes are facing inward towards the middle of the motor (suppose to be facing outwards). That means the #4 is actually on it's compression stroke, not #1.

[rkreimer10]

ok so how do you get that messed up? i set the timing chain per the fsm. cam lobes are facing out were facing out when i set the base timing or installed the timing chain. so what your saying is that my base timing is 180* off how is that posible? i mean can you explain to me how you can set your base timing off 180* as long as you line all the timing marks up with the coloured links and corect amount of rollers your timing should be on corect? i jsut dont understand how you can get base timing 180* off

[r1jlewis]

Well when you took it apart with #1 up on compression stroke and cam lobes were facing outward, just like FSM says and you put it back that way, then i don't know what the heck happened. Let me think a little more. Any pics of the install. You didn't turn the motor over in the middle of install or something drunk like that?

[rkreimer10]

not that i can recall of turning the motor over. from the time the old timing chain came off and the new timing chain went on the crank did not move. if it did move it was not one full rotation. ok so lets say i moved the crank one full rotaion. that still shouldnt matter. the compression stroke is caused my the intake cam opening the valve and sucking air in on the way down and closed on the way up causing compressed air. so that cant be it. and even if you could some how get the base timing to be 180*off you would still get some sort of compression. you know what i mean? im sooo lost with this never had a problem like this b4. i hope you can think of something everyone i know is sooooooo confused.

[r1jlewis]

After the valve seal install, did you make sure the valves were closing all the way. Sounds stupid but it always seems to be the stupid things that mess it all up and drive you crazy. That's the only other thing that would cause no compression. You say absolutely zero compression huh..

[r1jlewis]

U are right about still having compression even if it's 180 out. It's late! It just wouldn't start but you should still have compression. Hmmmm anyone else have an idea?

[rkreimer10]

valves were grinded and reset and yes they were all the way set. i double checked because the last thing i wante is a bent or broken valve. im at a loss. so is my friends dad who is a master mechanic can figure it out. i dont know what to do.

[r1jlewis]

No one else responded huh. were is everyone? did you get it figured out yet? I'm curious now. I have an extra head with cams in it and will go look at it to try to come up with any other ideas.

[rkreimer10]

still have not figured it out. i will do a leak down test this weekend and that should tell me the problem or where the air is going so it cant be compresed. ill post back with results.

[rkreimer10]

ttt before work

[rkreimer10]

i have a good idea what the problem is. i think my hvla need to be bled i think their is air in them causing the valves not to seal 100% so i will post back after i do that.

[r1jlewis]

I didn't think that would make any difference. If there was air in them (which is compressable) they wouldn't be pushing the valve open. Only the cam can do that. But if does need to be done though. Unless you like the tapping noise! when ever you get the valve cover, send some pics to my email address. I still might be able to help without actually working on it. [email protected]

[rkreimer10]

after the leakdown test the air was going into my crank case. so i have either shot rings or holes in my pistons. which i dont know how thats possible because a compression test was done b4 taking the motor apart and it was fine. the only thing i can think of is my rings are stuck or froze. any idea on how to fix that problem? im just going to drop solvent down each cylinder and hope that will free them. any other ideas?

[gsxrjjordan]

what a nightmare ~

My question is, if you pulled the rings to "inspect" them, why not replace em?? If you're rebuilding the engine, rings and seals are a great place to start ~ seems like you did everything except rehone/rering. Dont know why you would get 0 compression though, usually that points to timing issues (valves being open and such).

Bottom line, I'd say try a different (working) head first, because that's relatively easy, and then re-ring - and while you're doing all of that, just think how ****in cool your car's gonna be when its perfect always keeps me goin ~

[rkreimer10]

ok i know my head is in perfect working condition. whe i did the leak down test the valves leacked no air. the reason i never replaced my rings is cause my pistons never cam outa the block. i visually inspected them when the head was off and poured oil on them to see if they leaked. they were fine. plus a compresion test was done b4 disasembly so i knew they were good. after i got the motor together it sat for about 2 months waiting for new parts. not sure how long it sat b4 that tho. so i know its stuck rings. the leakdown proved this. i have had ATF fluid sitting on them all night when i go putt my cams back on well see what happens. ill keep ya posted.

[rkreimer10]

well i got the car started. it was the hydrolic lash adjusters. they had too much oil in them causing them to freeze and keep the valves open a hair at all times. causing no compresion. well it starts now and runs like a champ. thanx for all the ideas and replys.