[alexpreludwi]

Hey, so I'm having problems with my car not starting after doing a head gasket change. Let me tell you exactly how it went down. So i was a new mechanic and looked on alldata how to do the head gasket and what it didn't tell me was that I had to put the engine at top dead center before I took the camshafts out. So me and my friend took the camshafts out without it being in TDC and started tearing apart the engine and got everything out including the head, intake manifold, exhaust manifold. Once everything was out that's when I learned about TDC and I felt dumb as hell. So i cranked the crankshaft to get the pistons up to clean the piston heads because that's what people said to do when I took off the head. So i put the #1 piston at TDC because I thought that is how you did the timing and then i put the head back on and everything and put the camshafts up with the up arrow going up like all the how to things did it. I tried to start it and you'll see in the link that I have is that it just keeps going and what I never fully understood was I think the pistons are at a different interval thing relating to the camshafts and the pistons positions. I have a hard time finding things that relate to my problem and what I saw was that the #1 piston may not be on the compression stroke, but my situation is messed up and I'm hoping I can fix it because I'm 18 and still in school and don't have the money to bring it to a professional. Please help me and check out the video that I put the link too.


https://youtu.be/eFtiiAWUU5U

 

[Wing8806]

There is an arrow on the block that matches up with the crank gear for TDC. Match that up and make sure both cam gear notches are facing each other.


Double check all of your harness connections - hopefully you didn't break anything such as the knock sensor or crank position sensor. Double check your firing order. Hopefully you're using a new Honda auto-tensioner, timing belt and water pump since you've ripped everything apart anyway.


If you don't hear any pinging in the engine - you may have gotten lucky and not made contact. Get yourself a HELMS manual.

 

[bloodSHed]

There is an arrow on the block that matches up with the crank gear for TDC. Match that up and make sure both cam gear notches are facing each other.


Double check all of your harness connections - hopefully you didn't break anything such as the knock sensor or crank position sensor. Double check your firing order. Hopefully you're using a new Honda auto-tensioner, timing belt and water pump since you've ripped everything apart anyway.


If you don't hear any pinging in the engine - you may have gotten lucky and not made contact. Get yourself a HELMS manual.

Agreed. You can narrow it down by making sure you're getting spark and fuel.

- Put a long screwdriver on one of the fuel injectors and put your ear up to the other end of the screwdriver and listen for clicks when trying to start the car.
- Pull one of the spark plug wires and see if it will spark when close to metal when trying to start the car.