Want things done do them yourself! (story)

So as many of you know back in Feb of this year I bought a Dark Purple Plymouth Neon SOHC Automatic with 124000 miles.

Ran very bad at idle but smoothed out with any movement on throttle.

Check engine light - key dance showed cam sensor was bad replaced that still ran rough.

Pulled spark plugs 1 at a time while running cylinder #2 dead at idle.

Swapped injectors, swapped spark plug and wire with #4 still dead.

Bought new spark plugs, wires, intake gaskets, idle air control sensor, ignition coil. Still ran bad.

Brought it to shop asked them to do compression check they told me all cylinders were good and within 10% of each other.

Great still got me nowhere.

Checked the entire wiring harness - few bad wires fixed those still ran bad (fixed my turn signals though :lol:)

Bought PCM off someone on craigslist for $25 mad no difference.

New fuel pump..... still no difference.

2 New oxygen sensors.... still nothing.

pulled exhaust at manifold.... still no cylinder #2.

Checked every sensor on the car and the battery for sh*ts and giggles... still nothing.

Finally decided to spend the $170 rental charge at autozone and got the compression gauges.

1 - 160
2 - 0
3 - 30
4 - 155

checked again with squirt of oil in each cylinder

1 - 180
2 - 0
3 - 30
4 - 170

hooked air compressor up to cylinder #2 blew right out the exhaust no problem.

SO CHECK COMPRESSION YOURSELF DON'T LET THE NEIGHBORHOOD TRUSTED SHOP DO IT!!!!

Well anyways pulled the head off.....

Important tool -

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/ChevyTeeruck/Photo025.jpg

Here is what I found

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/ChevyTeeruck/Photo018.jpg

Plenty of ash buildup on all 8

2 were very badly bent
2 were slightly bent

Replaced all 8 with new melling exhaust valves

lapped them all too

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/ChevyTeeruck/Photo035.jpg

put the car back back together and it runs like a dream!

Only problem is..... I need to replace the piston rings since the blowby is a little crazy and the blue smoke is a little strong at cold start up but!.... 127000 cylinder walls still have hone marks :grinyes:

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/ChevyTeeruck/Photo019.jpg

Very nice!!! Sucks that you can't trust some shops. Sometimes DIY is the way to go.