Head refinished engine seized

[volcakid8787]

My '94 Talon TSI was recently overheating. I replaced everything from the thermostat to the radiator and yet it was still overheating. I finally did a "CO gas," test at a local shop and came back positive for CO gas in the coolant. I understood this to mean either a faulty head gasket or a warped head. I ended up using the info I retrieved from this http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/185236-head-removal-mini-engine-rebuild.html, to take everything apart. Everything went "well." Sure enough, the machine shop said the head was warped slightly. I ended up replacing the head gasket as well. The head was re-installed with ARP head studs. I had never done anything like this before so I asked my friend who is a mechanic to help me do the timing belt. After I got everything back together, I tried to crank her over. A horrible sound was produced! Oh no! I tried again for the same result. A third attempt resulted in the engine refusing to turn over. Took the timing cover off to see if we could crank it by hand and nothing. Popped the valve cover to see the damage and saw the guides(I think they're the guides) had come off of the top of the valves. Removed the spark plugs with great difficulty. The spark plugs were obviously damaged. In cylinder number two I think I can see a broken valve sitting on the top of the piston. So saying all that, I'm pretty sure we got the timing belt wrong. My question is this: does it sound like I can still salvage the head? Is it likely that any cylinder wall damage could have resulted without actually cranking fully? Does it sound like we just got the timing off? I guess I will just have to pull it and see the extent of the damage. Just goes to show you the importance of doing it right the first time!

 

[ExtremeTurboSystems]

When you re-installed the lifters in the head did you bleed the lifters? or did you put them in full of oil? That is if you had to pull them out.

 

[volcakid8787]

I didn't touch any of the valves. They were "inspected," and didn't seem to have anything wrong with them. If I understand correctly, the lifters attach to the valves?

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

I didn't touch any of the valves. They were "inspected," and didn't seem to have anything wrong with them. If I understand correctly, the lifters attach to the valves?

close!!! the lifters attach to the rocker which is linked to the valve

 

[Fehrion_sit]

did u have the correct cam gear timing, dowel pins straight up? i did a head rebuild and cranked to build oil pressure and had no issue.

did u have the crank bolt/gear and crank timing disc out, that could be backward which would lead to instant carnage inside the motor.

 

[volcakid8787]

Ok...that's what I thought the lifters where. So I guess that's for sure I didn't mess with the lifters then. Anyways, I guess they would be dry because the machine shop cleaned the head which I would assume removed the oil from the lifters. Would that damage the timing aspect of it? I wouldn't think so.
The cam gears are the one thing I'm sure were in line. I've looked at numerous pictures and what we did looked exactly like the pictures. On the other hand, I'm not positive about the crank gear. As I stated before, I had my friend help me so I was relying on him for this part. I'm not sure what dowel pins are.

did u have the crank bolt/gear and crank timing disc out, that could be backward which would lead to instant carnage inside the motor.

I'm not sure how I would have the crank pulley backwards. It only looked like there was one way it went in.

 

[viperlp01]

Did you turn the engine over by hand to make sure there were no issues before you try starting it.

 

[volcakid8787]

No, I did not rotate it by hand. I did, however, partially rotate it. I had to partially rotate it in order to put the belt back on the crank pulley but it was never fully rotated. I will be sure to do this next time.

 

[viperlp01]

An expensive mistake. It doesn't sound like you have a qualified "mechanic friend". If one of my guys didn't rotate the crank on a timing job he wouldn't be working for me anymore.

 

[volcakid8787]

I agree. A hard lesson learned. But good to know now for sure. Ill let y'all know how the rebuild goes.