engine hesitating after head install. mixed up the cam gears?

[LeeSD1]

So I took off the head to replace a leaking head gasket and got the head rebuilt with new seals and a cleaning. After putting the head back on the car now hesitates when giving it gas and the motor starts shaking and its also running super lean at idle and when giving it gas around 16:1 AFR's and if i try and drive it, it just doesnt gain speed and the whole car shakes pretty bad. Even if I richen up the AFR to 14:1 it still does it.
The only thing I can think of is when I took off the cam gears to clean them I might have mixed them up when I put them back on. But on the 420a arent the intake and exhaust cam Gears the same?
I really need some ideas on this one guys I cant think of anything else that it would be besides the timing but all the timing marks line up. thats what made me think its the cam gears...?

 

[Miasma]

So I took off the head to replace a leaking head gasket and got the head rebuilt with new seals and a cleaning. After putting the head back on the car now hesitates when giving it gas and the motor starts shaking and its also running super lean at idle and when giving it gas around 16:1 AFR's and if i try and drive it, it just doesnt gain speed and the whole car shakes pretty bad. Even if I richen up the AFR to 14:1 it still does it.
The only thing I can think of is when I took off the cam gears to clean them I might have mixed them up when I put them back on. But on the 420a arent the intake and exhaust cam Gears the same?
I really need some ideas on this one guys I cant think of anything else that it would be besides the timing but all the timing marks line up. thats what made me think its the cam gears...?

What gears and cams are you using? Cams will specify intake and exhaust sides, and I believe so should your gears depending which you have. Adjustable or no? How is your oil pressure, what type of gasket did you use? Wrong gasket blocking oil passages between the block and head would be bad news too? I would take off the valve cover and double check everything inside, verify everything is correct.

 

[bewstin]

The cam gears can only go on one way because of the key slot on the cam gear that slides over the end of the cam. I've never done a T-belt on a 420a motor, but i've done plenty on newer 2.4L Chrysler engines and they are almost identical aside from the tensioner being different. But as like any motor the timing has to be spot on, otherwise it will run like complete garbage. I doubt you switched the cam gears, because if you did your timing marks would be wayyyy off and the car wouldn't run. Did you make sure you put all the Camshaft caps back on where they came off, and not mix them around??
I would do the following also
-If you have a check engine light, find out why, you should if the car is running that bad
-Double check all your connections, CAS, TPS, Coilpacks, wires, ect
-Double check you timing again, because IMO it sounds like you either are off a tooth, or you bent a valve and your off 2 teeth or more. I'm not sure if the 420 crank pulley's have exterior timing marks on them, but if it does, idle the car and try an inductive timing light on it, that's another way to check.
-Check your oil, make sure there's no coolant in it. You could be dumping coolant into the cylinders and causing massive misfire. Head gasket could be defective, or installed incorrectly causing premature failure.
-Do a compression test to check for bent valves, bad head gasket, so on and so forth.

From the way your describing the problem, these are all the things that immediately popped into my head.

EDIT: I also just noticed that under your name it says your turbo??? That adds a lot more that can go wrong. Running super lean at idle usually indicated un-metered air getting into the engine, which means a decent size vacuum leak. Make sure you don't have any major boost leaks, or pre turbo exhaust leaks. Deffinatly do a boost leak test as well.

 

[LeeSD1]

I have verified the timing is correct. the cams and cam gears are all stock factory. no after market . the head gasket is a .051 cometic hg and I pulled the valve cover and the alignment holes in the cams are both facing straight up. oil pressure was normal. This is why I cant figure out whats going on, ive did the timing and rebuilt this motor a couple times now with no problems.

 

[bewstin]

So if your sure the timing is correct then you can move on.


Now first, id double check everything, all your connections that came off when you did the head.
Next i would do a quick compression test
Then i would move on to a boost leak test. From you saying that it runs lean at idle, my guess is that you have a big vacuum/boost leak.

 

[flyingewok]

I would tend to agree that you have an intake leak, maybe forgot to hook up a hose somewhere on the intake. Is the car running perfect at idle or only when accelerating and if so how much acceleration...only under boost or vacuum as well. More info please. Fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose just popped into my mind as well. More info on symptoms please.

 

[LeeSD1]

I have no CEL as im full standalone with megasquirt MS3X. I did a boost leak test and theres only a slight leak at the throttle body shaft. In MS all the sensors are monitoring everything correctly and everything reads normal. Its running lean but I have no vacuum leak my vac gauge reads 20inHg and it idles fine but only when i rev it you feel the motor start shaking and acting crazy. I will do a compression test today to rule that out. I HAVE verified the timing is on point literally 20 times now. Fuel pressure regulator is set i double checked that at idle and static.

 

[BogusSVO]

Check the cam gears, make sure the "2.0" is facing out.

If you have them on backwards, you will see "2.4"

You said you had the head rebuilt, who rebuilt it? You? a buddy? or a machine shop?

Any loss of coolant or oil?

 

[LeeSD1]

The cam gears are facing out it says 609 on both gears facing each other. The head was taken to a machine shop that didnt just rebuild mine but as well as my buddies 4g63 head and a mazdaspeed3 head. I know a lot of local guys who bring the head to this guy and his work has always been really good. The 4g63 head and mazda head I took to him ran great, no problems.
And no coolant or oil lose. I still have to do a compression test later after work.

 

[LeeSD1]

Okay after a compression test my results were 59-125-125-80 I repeated the test 3-4 times and got about the same numbers. So cylinder 1 and 4 are clearly the problem. I think the guy at the head shop messed something up. I added some oil to cylinders 1 and 4 and did the test again and compression went up to around 115. Does that mean its my valves?

 

[Miasma]

What did you have done with your head? If they removed your valves or put in different ones and didn't seat them correctly they could be sticking or squeaking giving you a problem on these cylinders. The only way you can find this out though, is pulling the head back off though to look.

 

[LeeSD1]

The guy at the head shop said he cleaned the valves n ports and put in new seals and resurfaced the head. He barely took anything off when he resurfaced it. Im bout to pull the head back off now and bring it back to the guy. No more shops will be touching my head! next time ill take the time to do it all myself.pissd

 

[hotrodssnova]

Adding oil to the affected cylinders seals the rings, NOT the valves. Your problem sounds like rings.

 

[BogusSVO]

Once the head is off, pull the cams, and do this...

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/420313-how-fluid-test-4g63-cylinder-head.html

to check the rings in the block...

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/450572-how-check-pinched-bad-rings.html#post153127146

 

[LeeSD1]

Okay so pulled the head and brought it back to the headshop and did a leak test and cylinder one was leaking. He said my lifters in cylinder 1 are bad. and that they have too much oil in them making them hold the valve open a little. He hit on the lifters a couple times to try and push some oil out of them. Then we tested cylinder 1 again and it was making a seal. Could anyone explain why there would be too much oil in the lifters if Ive never had that problem before?