97 caravan help!

Hi guys!
I am in the process of helping out my neighbor with his 1997 dodge caravan 2.4 and I need some help!
He overheated his engine and warped the head and blew the head gasket.
I said that I could help him out and put on the new cylinder head.
When i finished putting everything back together I started it up and it ran really rough. It also blew a lot of black smoke. and the exhaust is coming out really strong, I mean, it was blowing the pea gravel around in my drivway :frown:
It also pulled a 1391 trouble code (cam or crank position sensor)
I did some looking around on the net and the trouble code looks like they get oil in 'em and go bad, so I bought a new one, no dice. I checked the wiring and connectors, they all check out fine. I retimed the engine about 10 times :banghead: nothing.
I checked all the fuses, they're fine.
I'm not sure what the "new" used head came off of, could the new cams be different?
Also, his o2 sensor looks pretty beat up, would that cause this?
Can anybody help? it would be very much appreciated!
thanks!
-yo

If the O2 sensor is bad it will cause the engine to run very rich thus the black smoke. I would change the sensor and see what happens. It is quite possible that water also got into the cat and has caused some issues. Once you change the sensor run the van for a while to heat the cat up to operating temp. It is also possible that the cam position sensor is bad. That could account for the rough running in the engine. You may want to replace that as well. If the Crank sensor was bad it probably wouldn't start for you. Hope this helps!

you likely have it right but did you recheck the firing order of the wires,maybe one mixed up, and did you just check the timing or did you verify the timing from the belt to the sprockets?? and how did it run prior to your neighbor warping the head?

Thanks guys!
I did replace the cam position sensor, that didn't help.
I don't think the wires can really work in the wrong order, but i'll check.The "middle" (cyl 2 & 3) wires are pretty short and I don't think they will reach cylinders 1 and 4.
I checked the timing by lining up the crank to top dead center and then aligning the camshaft sprockets. For some reason i didn't think you could use a timing light on a electronic ignition engine? maybe i'm wrong.
I really appreciate you guys helping me. I'm 17 and have only been working on cars for a couple of years, so any help is like gold to me!

Prior to the warping his water pump went and he had a buddy try to replace it. his buddy got stuck halfway through and my neighbor got me and my brothers to finish the job. we finished it except for a heater hose that had a crack in it, he was gonna get another and never got around to it... you know where this leads to.

Anyway, his buddy was, well, let's just say he made me look really good. :screwy:
It's possible he messed something up in the process.

So the van ran pretty good prior to the warping. I think there was a slight misfire....

Thanks again!

-yohan

YO YO
Are you sure you were on the compression stroke when you set TDC?

Say What?
There's a compression stroke?
So I could easily have the crank 360 out? WOW!
Thank you so much!!! :grinyes:
I'm off to try timing #11

Thanks!

-yohan

It didn't work. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
I put the crank 360 out and put the old cams back in. It runs a little better but still really bad.
it also gets worse when it gets up to the operating temp.
Next is the o2 sensor, i guess....
:shakehead

-yohan

OK, so I just checked out the crankshaft position sensor, the other thing listed in the trouble code 1391, and I think it's bad?
The Hanes manual I'm using says that the sensor should alternate between 5 and 0.3 volts, mine alternates between 5 and 0.03 volts. That's ten times less voltage at the low point. ??? Would that affect the car?
Does the computer only read the high spikes? Or not?
And yes, my new favorite key on the keyboard is the ? :lol:
Somebody please help me :shakehead
Thanks.

-yohan