Just rebuilt my head and my car took a dump on me again any ideas?

[Ice03]

Well I jus bouht a 90 gsx thinkin it jus had a bad ecu but after I replaced it I found to my surprise that I also had bent valves. So after ordering a p&p head I installed bronze valve guides, stock valves and springs but upgraded retainers. well after I had that done I threw it on and went about breaking in the head not going past 3K rpm the whole time for 200 miles. Well one day during my lunch break at work I was going to get somethin to eat with my friends and i'm driving normally and as I went to shift to fourth it made sort of a messed up grinding noise coming from the engin but I thought it was the tranny at first so I put it back in gear and let the clutch out slowly and it made that horrible sound again then I finally looked down at my tach and the rpm's had fallen to zero and all my lights were on so I thought it jus died because a leak somewhere and tried to start it again but I jus got that nasty sound once again so I let it coast till I found a place to pull over. I opened the hood and everything looked fine so I called the shop up and had it towed. At first I thought it had skipped a tooth but that wasn't it. Then my mechanic observed the engine while I tried to started once again and it didn't look good at all. He told me that it didn't skip a tooth because the cams wouldn't even move when I tried to turn it over, but why would this happen if I jus had the complete head redone? Has anyone had this happen to them? and what was it? Is it pretty bad and will I have to redo all my work once again? Damn I'm gettin tired of these cars breaking down all the time. I need something more reliable. any info would be greatly appreciated thanks

 

[turboholic]

Originally posted by Ice03
At first I thought it had skipped a tooth but that wasn't it. Then my mechanic observed the engine while I tried to started once again and it didn't look good at all. He told me that it didn't skip a tooth because the cams wouldn't even move when I tried to turn it over, but why would this happen if I jus had the complete head redone? Damn I'm gettin tired of these cars breaking down all the time. I need something more reliable. any info would be greatly appreciated thanks

-How much you pay for this 14 yrs old DSM? any 14 yrs car will have problem, what can you get that's more reliable with the same amout of $? that's equally fun as a DSM when it's running.

-Your mechanic said the cams didn't move when you turn the motor over? sound like the timing belt is stripped at the crank, that's could be from bad timing belt job, old belt, fail pully, oil leak on to the belt causing it the strip....do a leak down test to confirm that.

-If the timing belt is stripped and the leak down test show leak, then you can either rebuild which you already know how much $ it'll cost or sell the car and get you something more reliable like you said. $.02

 

[Ice03]

No I just had a new belt put on but the car did leak a lil oil b/c the dumb mechanic didn't tighten the valve cover right so if it stripped at the crank what do I all have to do to fix it? and I payed for a lot of things at once so how much would it cost me or can I do it myself since I do have a shop to my disposal? I kinda dont want to get rid of my car since I jus bought an fp green with enough supporting mods but none are on car yet.
thanks

 

[BUCK]

ICE03: Has anyone had this happen to them?

Absolutely - it happens to LOTSA guys who...

don't change Tensioner,

don't set Tension correctly,

don't delete Balance Shafts on a 14 year old motor while they are in there,

don't replace front case Oil Seals on a 14 year old motor while they are in there,

don't inspect/replace Harmonic Balancer on a 14 year old motor while they are in there,

don't fix oil leaks.

 

[TimG]

Originally posted by BUCK
don't set Tension correctly

I see this an aweful lot.

 

[Ice03]

sorry for the noob question but how do i go about tensioning it correctly?

 

[leet]

You buy a new tensioner.

 

[turboholic]

Originally posted by Ice03
sorry for the noob question but how do i go about tensioning it correctly?

-vfaq.com has detail info and picture on the timing belt procedure, if you want to depend on a 14yrs car then you better learn to fix it yourselve or get a more reliable car, otherwise you'll have lots of down time and alot less $, $.02.

 

[Ice03]

Yea I would do my own work but I'm in college now and have a job, which gives me close to no time at all plus my dad has a shop so if I need anything done I go to them but I like to know what is wrong with my car so they can't make stuff up and try to screw me over. While I was there one of them has a close to new nt engine which I can have for 300 so I kinda liked that idea but I was wonderin what are the difference between the two? while it's sittin out of the car I can remove the balance shafts and adapt a couple of my parts but if it is too diff I wont even bother. Oh one last question if I do get the engine you think it can handle a 50 trim?
thanks for all of the responses