I had the head on my 97 626 off and did a valve job, put it all back together but when I set the timing all is good until I spin the engine. The timing marks become way off. This has me stumped and am hoping for some help.
It looks like my problem may be in the intake cam as it is hard to turn, I took the cam back off to make sure one of the lifters was not damaged but all look ok. One of the lifters though does not push as far down as the one next to it so now I am wondering if something was not done correctly when the valve springs were installed for that cylinder or something was dropped in and is now blocking the sping. Shouldn't the spings compress the same amount for both that are together? All the others seem to be the same. The exhaust cam turns smoothly unlike the intake cam.
Looks like I will be pulling the head again but wanted some thoughts before I do.

Please let me know what you think..

Thanks, Kerwin

 

Before pulling the head back off kerwin, try to determine why the intake cam is harder to turn. Does it turn more easily when cam lobe is not trying to compress that questionable lifter bucket? If so then just pull out the one lifter and shim that is causing the binding and see if the cam now turns easily. If it does then at least you know where the problem lies. Could be a bent valve, damaged valve guide, or binding lifter bucket. You might also try to loosen the cam caps one at a time and see if it turns more easily when one or more is loosened. The caps do need to be reinstalled to their exact original location as they are line bored on the head and are not interchangeable from one spot to another.

 

I hate to say this but you are much smarter than I. After reading what you said I thought, well I did that he can't be right, but I went out and tried anyway. Took what I thought was the offending lifter out and tried again, still the same thing, so I loosened the caps and it got better!! Then I looked at the numbers on the caps and the notes I had to make sure they went back on the same way. Wouldn't you know it, they were on in the correct locations just pointing the wrong way. Had the numbers pointing to the passenger side on the intake and the drivers side on the exhaust. Put the lifter back in and the cam back on with the caps pointing the other direction and the cam turns smooth much like the exhaust side.

Now to put it back together and see if I can get it right this time

My hats off to you babyhuey, your the man

Thanks for the great advice, Kerwin

 

Now that I corrected the intake side I am wondering if all caps are set correctly on the exhaust side. The exhaust doesn't turn as nice as the intake side now, is there a way to tell if I have them on the right way?
Is there a way that these are usually put on from the factory that I can do the same way? Now I am second guessing myself! The numbers on the end caps are 1 and 6 but the other caps seem backwards now.
They go from the cam
intake 1 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2
exhaust 6 - 0 - 9 - 8 - 7

Thanks again for the help, Kerwin

 

They are usually oriented from the factory like this. Starting from front of engine where cam pulleys are.

Intake: 1 - 2- 3 - 4 - 5

exhaust 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 0

Make sure also that they are turned the correct way. If the #1 mark on the cap is right side up when looking at the engine standing at the right fender then make sure 2-3-4-5 are also right side up. If #1 is upside down when looking from same spot then 2-3-4-5 should also all be upside down. Same goes with exhaust cam. They are usually always all upside down but have seen different. Try that and see how the camshafts turn.

 

Thanks again for all the help. What a difference it makes to put the caps on in the right order and direction. They both turn nice and smooth now.
Now to put the belt on again and put it all back together. Hopefully all will be good to go now.

Once again thanks for the advice, it was what I needed

Kerwin

 

After finally getting the timing set correctly, the car still will not fire. The oil light is not going off on the dash so i am wondering if this is because it does not appear that I am getting oil up to the valves. Is there a safety switch that keeps the engine from starting if there is no oil pressure at the head?
If this is the case I will be pulling the head to make sure I put the head gasket on correctly and no passages are blocked.

The saga continues

Thanks for all the help, Kerwin

 

There is not a safety cutoff switch for oil pressure kerwing. Engine would start up with no oil in the crankcase at all, just not for long.Double check the timing marks for the cam and crankpulleys. Drawings below. If you had the cam pulleys off of the camshafts then make sure that when the alignment marks for the cam pulleys are lined up per the drawing that the locator pins in the end of the cams are at 12:00 position. This will ensure that the pulleys are on the camshafts correctly. Also make sure you have ignition spark, fuel pressure etc.

[IMG]local://upfiles/1377/DAE6051A634A40F5B54E29B1CDDF1846.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1377/8B6FD8CF92E240D8B56301F2BACDCF11.gif[/IMG]

 

I am getting spark and fuel but no fire. I looked at the timing marks so many times just to make sure they were correct. Just checked again and they are lined up per the drawings.
There is oil in the crankcase but it is not getting up to the head for some reason. Isn't the oil sensor on the side of the head below the air box? Since the oil light is not going off on the dash and there is no oil in the head there has to be something in the way of an oil galley, right? I'm thinking I may have put the head gasket on wrong and caused my issue.
Am I going in the right direction or is there something else I can check?

Thanks for all the help, Kerwin

 

Well that is odd kerwing that you are getting spark and fuel and marks remain lined up but still will not start. There obviously must be one part that is missing or would fire up assuming it was running fine before the cylinder head was removed for the valve job. Did you also check the location of the alignment pegs on the end of the camshaft to ensure the cam pulleys are correctly iinstalled on the camshafts?
Loss of oil however would not keep it from starting. You have pulled the valve cover back off and found no oil at all up there?? Keep this flow pattern in mind when trying to fiqure out the oil problem. Crankshaft turns the oil pump which first pumps oil into and thru the oil filter. After that it enters the oil gallery in the block where the pressure switch is able to detect any pressure or not. The switch is in the only passage that supplies oil up to the cylinder head. How about pulling the oil filter off first and seeing if oil comes out when cranking. If so then move up to the oil pressure switch which is just above and to the left of the oil filter and remove it to check for oil when cranking. That would at least tell us if the oil pump is working and moving oil into the block area.