Two problems after replacing headgasket

[defiancy]

Hello everyone! I thought I'd get some of your opinions on a problem I am having on my 91 Talon TSI AWD.


So I just recently replaced my head gasket after it blew about a year ago, after which the car sat in a garage until recently.

The first problem I am having is an excessive vibration in the car. It vibrates pretty bad when it's idling but when I drive the car around it gets significantly worse, basically the whole car shakes. Now I have polyurethane mounts, so I expected a little more body rattle, but this is whole sale shaking of the car.

The timing of the car is pretty spot on, and when I listen to the motor it doesn't seem to be misfiring or running rough at all. My car does still have the balance shafts it it, so my thinking was that perhaps I some how aligned the balance shafts wrong. I used the method where you align it at twelve o'clock and then let the shaft fall to see where it's aligned. However I had to re-do the belt a few times. Could this cause the excessive vibration like I am experiencing? Or should there be anything else I check before I rip back into my timing belt? To specify I am talking about the oil pump balance shaft, I did not remove the belt for the other balance shaft, but is there something more to aligning that balance shaft other than setting the timing marks on the crankshaft sprocket?

Secondly, my car will not go into reverse AT ALL, no grinding, nothing. It's simply like it hits a wall when I try to put it in reverse and will not move past that. I never had any tranny problems before (it was like butter before) and I didn't mess with any of the gears or cabling while the car was garaged. It goes into every other gear fine and drives fine (other than the problem above). I even tried to slip the clutch out a little and get it to go into gear. Any suggestions?

Thanks guys.

 

[chrismx22]

First issue is probably balance shaft miss alignment.

 

[Pursuit]

Sometimes the reverse switch on the transmission get bad and it won't let you shift. Remove it and try again .

 

[defiancy]

Sometimes the reverse switch on the transmission get bad and it won't let you shift. Remove it and try again .

Where is this located? On the top near the cabling?

 

[Pursuit]

Where is this located? On the top near the cabling?

this is the reverse switch. on the left side of the tranny black top.

 

[defiancy]

this is the reverse switch. on the left side of the tranny black top.

Thanks! When you say remove it, do you just mean remove it and see if it'll go in reverse? I suppose if I remove it and it does, I need to get a new one right?

 

[Mischif]

Sounds like the oil pump balance shaft is 180 degrees off.

 

[Pursuit]

Thanks! When you say remove it, do you just mean remove it and see if it'll go in reverse? I suppose if I remove it and it does, I need to get a new one right?

yes just remove it and see if it goes in.

 

[bryanwheat]

The shift lever could be hitting on the lower intercooler pipe or something also. Check things that were messed with when you worked on the car if it didn't do it before and does not.

 

[defiancy]

The shift lever could be hitting on the lower intercooler pipe or something also. Check things that were messed with when you worked on the car if it didn't do it before and does not.

Thanks, that's a great suggestion that I hadn't even thought of. I have hard IC piping so it definitely could be.


Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I'll report back with my findings.

 

[defiancy]

Alright, so I tore out the timing belt and complete redid it today, I aligned the balance shaft per VFAQ using the 12 o'clock method, but my car is still shaking horribly.

Not only is it shaking really badly, (it increases during acceleration, but the car has absolutely no power when I drive it. It will move but it doesn't have any torque or pickup. (not that I was mashing it or anything). The car also sounds kind of rough when idling, like lopey like I have cams on there, but I definitely don't have anything other than stock cams on there. Any other suggestions as to what I should check?

 

[Pursuit]

Alright, so I tore out the timing belt and complete redid it today, I aligned the balance shaft per VFAQ using the 12 o'clock method, but my car is still shaking horribly.

Not only is it shaking really badly, (it increases during acceleration, but the car has absolutely no power when I drive it. It will move but it doesn't have any torque or pickup. (not that I was mashing it or anything). The car also sounds kind of rough when idling, like lopey like I have cams on there, but I definitely don't have anything other than stock cams on there. Any other suggestions as to what I should check?

make a video so we can see whats going on, also take pictures of the timing marks so we can make sure you did it right.

 

[defiancy]

make a video so we can see whats going on, also take pictures of the timing marks so we can make sure you did it right.

Alright, I'll do that tomorrow and I will take pictures as well. I could always use a double check even if I just spent hours doing this.


When I stand in front of the car and listen to the motor it sounds fine, the motor actually sounds great, it's on the exhaust side things sound like crap. And when the motor gets warm the car seems like it's going to die, but never does.

 

[Lou98GSX]

first of all you should always change both belts . on my sons car the small belt broke and took out the crank sensor and car had to be towed . then before pulling the head you should turn the engine by hand and line up your cams and the crank sprocket . then when you put it back together you line up the small sprocket on the small belt on the notch and then you remove the 14mm bolt on the back of the block.now you turn the silent shaft sprocket on the main belt and put it on the notch .now stick a screw driver in the hole and see how far the screw driver goes in . take the screw driver out and spin the sprocket around once and put it back on the notch . put the screw driver back in and compare how far it goes in from before . the silent shaft is on time when the screw driver is able to go in deeper in the hole. what you are doing is feeling the flat part of the shaft.

 

[defiancy]

first of all you should always change both belts . on my sons car the small belt broke and took out the crank sensor and car had to be towed . then before pulling the head you should turn the engine by hand and line up your cams and the crank sprocket . then when you put it back together you line up the small sprocket on the small belt on the notch and then you remove the 14mm bolt on the back of the block.now you turn the silent shaft sprocket on the main belt and put it on the notch .now stick a screw driver in the hole and see how far the screw driver goes in . take the screw driver out and spin the sprocket around once and put it back on the notch . put the screw driver back in and compare how far it goes in from before . the silent shaft is on time when the screw driver is able to go in deeper in the hole. what you are doing is feeling the flat part of the shaft.

There is an easier way to align the oil pump balance shaft than removing that bolt and jamming a screw driver in there. On the VFAQ timing belt write up, it states if you turn the balance shaft gear to the 12 o clock position and let go of it, if it falls toward the timing mark it's correct, if it spins clockwise away from the mark it's set wrong. That's what I did, I'm wondering if the balance shaft is even the problem. But I'll have a video up here shortly.

 

[defiancy]

Here are some pictures and videos of what the car is doing. Also keep in mind that I just replaced the lifters on this motor so there is some ticking.


Car sound 2 - YouTube


Car sound 3 - YouTube


Car sound 4 - YouTube


Car sound 1 - YouTube

Any ideas? Bent valves, timing off, anything else? I can't figure it out and I'd like to have some idea of what before I tear back into it. Thanks anyone for your help!

 

[defiancy]

Wondering if anyone has any help for this problem?

 

[moronthr33]

ok well that sounds horrible i wouldnt run that anymore. have you checked the crank timing? it doesnt matter if the cams line up if the crank doesnt.

 

[defiancy]

ok well that sounds horrible i wouldnt run that anymore. have you checked the crank timing? it doesnt matter if the cams line up if the crank doesnt.

Yes, I literally just redid the timing. Everything lined up fine before I put the belt back on.

 

[Pursuit]

Yes, I literally just redid the timing. Everything lined up fine before I put the belt back on.

check your compression 1.2.3.4 cylinders. That's not timing. If sound like subaru , then you not running on 4 cylinders. if compression its good check injectors and spark.

 

[Anubis_4_99]

Yes, I literally just redid the timing. Everything lined up fine before I put the belt back on.

Ok, everything lined up before you put the belt back on, all fine and dandy.

But did it line up afterwards? Things can move afterwards and throw off the marks slightly, always check before, during, after, and after again. Timing is something that can and will cause serious damage if not properly done. Believe me i can attest to this. 2.5K into a fresh build and had to redo it all, timing got off and bent nearly every valve in the head, dented pistons, etc.

 

[defiancy]

Ok, everything lined up before you put the belt back on, all fine and dandy.

But did it line up afterwards? Things can move afterwards and throw off the marks slightly, always check before, during, after, and after again. Timing is something that can and will cause serious damage if not properly done. Believe me i can attest to this. 2.5K into a fresh build and had to redo it all, timing got off and bent nearly every valve in the head, dented pistons, etc.

Yeah the timing was good. I put the timing belt on, set the auto-tensioner, rotated the crank six times, left it for 15 and rechecked the timing again. Everything was still lined up.

It may have been that the timing was off before I redid it, I'm hoping not. I guess the only way to know is to run the compression before I pull the head. I'll do that and post the results.

 

[defiancy]

Solved. The #3 and #4 spark plug wires were switched at the coil pack. Tranny works now too, even though I didn't do anything.

Thanks everyone who input suggestions!