04 Cavalier Troubleshooting

I have just finished replacing the timing chain and water pump on my 2004 cavalier with 2.2l ecotec engine. I was trying to run a compression test and im not getting anything from any of the valves, i still have the battery charging, it has been dead for the 2 weeks i have been working on the car. i am testing it cold, but i still should get some kind of pressure from the valves, right? what am i doing wrong?

also unrelated to that is the intake on top seems to be a little loose as where the same part on the exhaust doesn't seem to be loose, i will try to edit this to add pictures.

Why did you replace the timing chain? This is an interference engine, so it's possible you bent the valves if something happened while it was running. I assume you got the timing marks lined up? If so, get the battery charged up and then try the compression test again, if it's cranking slow you'll get lower compression.

My 04 cavalier was 2 months outside of warranty, at 57,000 miles, I was having trouble with it running and even at idle, it would spike rpms from 500 to 1500 and constantly felt like it was going to stall and even the little bit i drove it in the parking lot, it was hard to get above 20mph and alot of vibration and friction and i tried to figure what was wrong, but couldn't find a vacuum leak or anything else wrong, so i took it to a couple of mechanics that would know better than i did, they said they think it was the timing chain too, or some part of it. And after taking it apart, the chain had a slight sag to it and the tensioner wasn't staying compressed like something broke or was missing when i removed it and tensioner sprocket had alot of wear to it. so i replaced the timing chain and while at it replaced the water pump, and i got the timing marks done, except the marks 'move' from the notches after a few rotations when i move it with a wrench, i was told that wasn't abnormal, is that wrong? should the colored pieces of the chain remain at those marked notches at all times no matter how many rotations? and also i tried getting a compression test from the valves and thats where i hit this issue, and i do get the guage to move when i use an air compressor, but not when i rev the engine when i have it testing the valves.

The marks on the chain are to make it easier to line up and be sure it's not off a tooth. After the engine is rotated, the mark on the chain will be off. The timing marks are on the crank and cam sprockets and line up with a mark on the head/block, the cam marks will be off every-other revolution, but on rotation 2,4,6,etc they should be lined up at the same time as the crank mark. I've never been inside an Ecotec, so I don't know exactly where the marks are. On most engines, the timing marks will be directly above or below the sprocket.

I was wondering how hard it is to replace the speedometer and speedometer cable on a 2000-2002 cavalier?