No-Start after a LIM gasket swap

[dk05]

Here's the situation, I have a 96 Ciera SL, VIN M, 3100 Motor. The LIM failed sending coolant into the oil, so I went to replace the gasket, took it all apart, put it back together, no start. I have a feeling it is the valves being improperly adjusted seeing as I was not 100% on the adjustment process. The motor has the standard ball type rockers. If anyone knows the process to torque the rockers down properly, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[SappySE107]

there is no adjustment. You torque them all down (i forget the torque spec, might be on the site still under specification).

[dk05]

That is actually what I did, 18 ft/lbs is what I had for a spec.

[SappySE107]

Then it should be ok if you got the pushrods back on in the right order. Does it get fuel and spark?

[dk05]

Yea, it has fuel and spark, and i'm 99% on the pushrods, it's just that it has no compression and that leads me to believe that it's the valves.

[Carlspike]

If you swapped 2 pushrods theres a good chance you bent a valve. How many cylinders have no compression?

[dk05]

All of them have no compression. I don't think that is the case though, I was very careful to keep them in order and am almost positive that they are. The only thing I was unsure of was the tightening procedure for the rockers. Can anyone confirm that the VIN M motor from 96 with ball type rockers was 18 ft/lbs and not a valve lash or something else?

[Carlspike]

I've got a 96 and my book said 20 ft/lbs. I'm not sure if it's an M code engine, but mine has the one piece rocker.18 should still be fine. You didn't mess with the timing did you? It's kind of odd you lost compression on every cylinder, are you sure the compression tester works properly?

[dk05]

No, not really sure on that, but I can't think of any other reason the car acts the way it does, it just grinds w/o firing at all except once every like 20 rotations it pops a bit out the exhaust. There is spark and fuel, and I didn't mess with the timing, and everything is hooked up like it should be, this is the only thing that checks out bad. I am used to seeing a valve lash design on pushrod motors, and thought it kind of odd that it was just a torque setting. I'll have to mess with it some more and see what I can find. Thank you for all your replies.

[CNCguy]

If you are unsure about the gauge, you can double check that you have zero compression by pulling a plug out and holding your finger over the hole. If there is compression, you can feel it. Decent compression will push your finger off the hole.

If you don't have compression, pull your front valve cover and watch the valve train while someone else is cranking it over. If nothing looks out of the ordinary, pull a couple of pushrods and check them from straightness.

[Carlspike]

If you can do another compression check (by hand or with a reliable tester) and it checks out then I would double check all the vacuum lines and electrical connectors. Did you get all of the injectors seated fully in the lower intake? Do you smell fuel? Make sure the spark is a bright blue color, not yellow and make sure the plug wires are back on in the right order. I know these sound like simple things but it's easy to overlook 1 little thing on a big job like head gaskets.

[PCGUY112887]

Sounds like an electrical harness wasn't hooked back up, or hooked up to the wrong spot.

Can the plug for variable effort steering be accidentally plugged into anything else?