P0018 and P0019 after work done

Update: It's been a long december and due to weather it took a long time. Weather got very nice in the last few days and I have had some holiday time off.

I have taken the left head off. When I took off the front cover again and removed the left bank timing chain, the camshafts were under tension in stage 1 timing. It 'snapped' to position when I took the pressure off the chain. I had recently, as reported, done the timing chain component replacement. The fact that this happened makes me wonder if the camshaft phasers could have been damaged during the initial failure of the timing chain tensioner.

After getting the head off (just now) I have taken pictures and am posting them here. The head gasket and valves all look ok. The valves look a little burnt. My next steps are to take the head to a machine shop to get surfaced and to have a leak-down test done. At this point I am at a loss for what is causing the lack of compression. Any input is welcome. I didn't put a scope anywhere yet, as I don't have one.

Regards,
Cody

I only did compression dry. I also don't understand why it wasn't in a "neutral" state when at stage 1 timing. Unsure how it could have moved relative to the crank. My next steps are getting the head inspected and machined surface for remounting. I also intend to ask the machine shop to check the camshafts and phasers. In the meantime I will be looking at what I could have done wrong to cause the timing to be off.

Is there a way to do a piston leak down test? All tests I have seen involve air pressure when the head is on. I want to test my piston rings by pouring something on the pistons and seeing how much leak I have, that's my thought anyway. Let me know if there are ways to prove out the piston rings.

I will keep you posted as I progress. Thanks.

Regards,
Cody

Thanks for the reply. I got the head pressure tested and re surfaced and no issues found. Given that and the valves look ok the only logical issue is that I didn’t time the cams properly on install of the new timing chains.

I want to avoid having to install the front cover and all that comes with it to test compression. Is it possible to “jump” the starter after I have the valve covers back on to test compression with front cover, belt, pulleys etc all still removed? In theory it doesn’t seem like it would be an issue.

What do you mean turn it with the starter to confirm I can by hand? I planned to avoid connecting the electrical and instead provide an external 12V to the starter manually. Any reason this is a bad idea? Other than the potential to damage the starter by bypassing any fusing.

Hey Joe and all. Long time no talk. I got engaged and am in the process of buying a new house so this has been on the back burner a while. I wanted to ask, if I spin the motor with the starter with front cover off will that be okay from an oil and coolant perspective? Will I splash stuff out the case? I know I'm only turning it a few rotations to build compression but am nervous. Thanks.

Hey Joe. For the record we have been together 7 years and already have 2 kids. Haha.

I was concerned with turning it over with front and valve covers off. I called a mechanic friend who told me it’s fine to do but to put a quart of oil in it first, as it was empty before. I did that and turned it over and that went fine. However nothing has changed. I did a wet test vs dry and got 25psi dry (same as before) and 45psi wet. I only tested cylinders 4 and 5 so far. 5 was 120psi as usual (good side) and 4 was as mentioned. Does gaining 20psi really indicate the rings are bad? To remind anyone this engine ran when I got it but Timing chains failed shortly after running it. The head checked out at the shop and the camshafts have been reinstalled to the instructions twice. I’m at a total loss at this point. Any advice on what else to check? I’m about to give up on this all together and parts out this vehicle which sucks.

Hey Joe. So the head was machined at a shop for clean fit. They say they checked it and the cams but I do not know. The valves looked okay, but I don’t know they were checked really properly. Also I activated the valves manually to prove they aren’t seized. Also I don’t think valve issues could cause identical compression across piston 2, 4 and 6 at the same time. Based on my work I was sure it was improperly set timing. I followed the instruction very thoroughly to set the flats up while crank is in stage 1 timing. The fact that the compression went up with oil could also mean a cracked block right? I really don’t know what to do now. The fact that compression is so low I don’t know what to try next. It’s not like it’s a little low.

Just to clarify the right head all have around 120psi while the left all have 30psi dry. I only wet tested cylinder 4 and got 40psi as mentioned.

Yea I’ve heard of magnaflux. Don’t you need the block out for that anyway. At this point I think this project car is a loss and I should parts out what works on it to recover. Sad given how much time and parts I’ve put into it.

A friend of mine suggested hooking up air to the pressure gauge hose to pressurize the cylinder and listen for where the air is coming out. If it’s it builds pressure with all valves closed it’s not the block and it’s the rocker arms or something like that.

I mean to pressurize each cylinder when I’m a all valves closed (compression stroke)configuration. At that point I would hook a air hose to the fitting the compression gauge goes to. That way I’m testing compression capability of the cylinder independent of timing, cams nor valve stem/rockers. It’s something that should be easy to try at least. Haha. Will let you know how it goes.