Car Trailer - DSM Won't Start

[radbradyah]

I recently moved from Utah to New Mexico, and transported by Talon on a car trailer. It was running fine before the move, and loaded up without hassles. The only thing that happened on the drive was the chain for the front frame of the car came loose for a couple of hours and was dragging, possibly flipped up and hit something? or sparked? Upon arriving the car wouldn't start. It cranks but doesn't start. I've tried everything I can think of, but am out of ideas.

From the research I've done, I needed to make sure I was getting fuel, spark, compression and correct timing. The spark is getting there, I tested all 4 plugs and let them spark on the valve cover. I even changed all 4 plugs and tried a spare coil pack.

I can hear my fuel pump turn on, and can smell fuel on the plugs after trying to start it. I havn't pulled off the line going into the fuel filter to check and make sure i was getting fuel as I figured the trace on the plugs was an indicator. I've got over half a tank of fuel as well.

My timing belt looks good still, and the two marks on the cam gears line up when they are rotated towards eachother. When trying to start the car the crankshaft and cam gears are spinning with the belt. I did a compression test on all 4 cyclinders, but I must be doing something wrong, because I'm getting no compression on any of them. I followed the instructions here:
http://www.dsmgrrrl.com/FAQs/compression.htm

I tested the guage on m wife's car and get readings so i figure the guage is good. Perhaps it wasn't sealing when I screwed it in, although i tightened it about as hard as I could by hand by spinning the hose. I'll try the compression testing again.

I'm about out of ideas of things to try, and thought I'd toss this on the forum to get some input on other things to check. I'm going to go drain and change my oil and coolant just to make sure theres no problems there, and no coolant in my oil. I plan on testing the maf, although I've never tested it, I'm hoping theres a walkthrough in the service manual to test voltages or something. Also, theres some type of alarm on the car, Python I believe, no idea what model. I don't know if this can be doing something odd to prevent it to start. A friend mentioned to pull the plugs and put in some starter fluid, then pop them back in and try and start it to see if it would start. I also guess draining the fuel would be an option to make sure thats ok, although it was fine before the move.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to explain everything the best I could. Please feel free to mention anything else I'm missing, as I'm fairly un-experienced working with cars and am learning as I go. Thanks.

 

[canhsusername]

From my experiences I've had issues with alarm systems with the ability to disable the ignition. I think python might be a basic one with just vibration sensors - just a thought. I've had a car not start also due to the ignitor unit (i forget what it's actually called - located next to the coil).

Good luck.

 

[radbradyah]

well, turns out, somehow on the trailer the timing jumped, to at least 45 degrees off, and all the cranking i did trying to start it and get it going again bent the valves. So, a simple car trailer trip turned into a head rebuild / timing belt job. I've needed to replace the w.p. and pulleys etc. for the timing belt anyways, but the head was fine. At least I can take the opportunity to build the head up a little. Anyways, I learned a good lesson about making sure to check everything before continuing to crank the car. At least I know why I was getting zero compression .

By the way, if anyone reads this and is in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area and knows any good machine shops I could use the info, sucks not knowing what shops are good at a new place

 

[forcefed4]

Welcome to the area!
I live down in Los Lunas.

I have a friend at work that will know a good machine shop. I will ask him on Monday when I see him.

 

[radbradyah]

awesome, thnx man.