HELP! 99 malibu

Hey guys I bought a malibu off of some guy for around 500 bucks. He said that he replaced the timing chain and when I asked him why he said that it was about time for it. Kinda weird, maybe he confused it for a belt.
Anyways when I bought it it wouldnt start because he said the heads were leaking and the battery went dead while it was parked. I had it towed to my house and jumped it and it ran like crap! almost like a plug wire was left off.
My first thoughts were that he had the timing chain was on wrong but thats really difficult to do and he said he was driving it for a while before the heads started leaking. When I did the head gaskets I noticed that two push rods on each head had slight bows in them. Could this cause my problem?? I wouldnt think so but im not sure.

Do any of you have an idea of where I should start looking? Thanks for your help!

First figure out why the pushrods are bowed, replace them and then see whats up. See which cylinders are missing. Checked the firing order and swap wires and make sure you don't have a bad wire. I would highly recommend a compression check. Bent pushrods probably mean the valves have hit pistons sometime. Maybe that is why he put a chain on it. Like you said, you don't replace chains.....
yes, bent pushrods can cause some weird symptoms, the least of which is misfires.

I checked the pistons and they seemed fine no marks on them or anything that looked weird even the valves looked good. I will do a compression check anyway.

I think what may have bent them is someone trying to start it or turning it over with the chain off?? Not sure. But I think I'm going to get new rods for it and go from there. This will be the 4th time I have had the intake off on this car! lol I can do it with my eyes closed.

Any other ideas??

Thanks

What engine does this car have. The 3.1L also has a guide for the chain.
Anti freeze in the engine can bend a push rod.
Anyway lay them on a flat table and roll a bad one will show up. The cylinders with low compression is where I would look if you don't remember where you put them.

Also, as you obviously know by now, the pushrods are different lengths, if the po put em in the wrong spots and tightened the rockers, wala they bend em.

ok guys im not getting compression in cyls 2 and 4. i havent checked 1-3 yet because its a pain in the a**. I think I might have some bent valves? I'm not sure. When I had the head off they looked fine, no marks on the valves or the pistons.

I think they must have rotated the crank with the chain off and bent everything.

Here is what I've done so far:
Replaced the intake and head gaskets.
replaced the bent rods.
replaced the plugs.

With what your going through I would check the timing chain myself. Have a machine shop check the valves. At least turn the heads over and pour some kerosene on them and check for leaks.

Im getting a black fouling on the plugs. Valve stem seals?? I'm pretty sure worn and leaking seals would cause the same problems im getting.

But my only question is would leaking seals cause a total loss of compression? the guage doesnt even move. Or would leaking seals fail the leakdown test?

I think you have a mechanical problem.

I think you have a mechanical problem.


You think??

You think??

Yes, positive. There is abolutely no way valve seals and compression loss correlate. Previous posters right. Check the chain. If the valve timing is off it is entirely feasible to have NO compression in one or all cylinders. Reason is, when the piston and rod is coming up on the compression stroke, if the valve timing is off and the valves are open, there won't be compression. If you know the four stroke of an engine you can pull a plug and valve cover and put a dowel in the cylinder via plug hole then slowly bar the engine over and make sure the valve action matches the stroke the piston is one, other than that, check the chain timing. Also if the last test doesn't match, the timing is off.

Well guys I removed the timing cover and the chain is in correctly. I'm going back to my original idea of bent valves unless someone can come up with another idea.

Thanks for all the help and I'll post the result after I replace the valves.

from context I can see you have a 2.4 I thought 3.1, all my postings still apply except your pushrods arent different lengths.

Nope 3.1