Talon Doesn't Run After Overheating

[nates6969]

Hi I have a 91 Talon and ever since the car was over heated things just started breaking...we replaced the water pump and thermostat...and then sometimes the car would just die out of no where on idles. Finally the thing would start up for 5 seconds then die! now it doesn't run at all. I tested the compression and its only testing 75-80 across the top. I pulled the head and the head gasket appears to be ok and the heads not cracked and the valves all appear to be sitting ok (somebody told me I may have bent valves). I then pulled the pistons out and the rings...well I don't really know what a good set of rings looks like for this car! Does anyone have any suggestions why my compression is so low or better yet why isn't it running! can that low of compression stop a car from running all together? the fuel pressue has been tested and is ok and I believe a diagnostic was done to the computer and I never heard what the results were but I believe the computer tested ok?!? If you can help me that would be awesome. Thanks A lot for your help!

[MrZ]

nates6969;
Are you serious? You pulled the pistons out of the block?! If you have, my advice is to pull the motor (if you haven't already) and bring it to a good shop to have all of the clearances checked. Have the cylinders honed (bored if necessary) and get new rings. How did you take the rings off? Did you removed the ridge from the top of th cylinders before you pulled the pistons?

As far as your compression problem, it isn't rings and it isn't your valves. If you're testing that low across all of the cylinders I would bet my reputation your valve timing is off. My guess is that when you replaced the water pump you didnt' put the timing belt and tensioner back together correctly. If the car was running ok initially after the water pump change, then probably the belt tensioner wasn't set up right, and later on it loosened and let the belt jump and throw your valve timing off.

Mark

[nates6969]

ya sadly I'm serious! I was going to pull the pistens anyways cuz I was going to rering it. The car had seemed to had lost it's power aways so I figured might as well do it all at once. So do you think there could also be possibilty of a warped head? I can actually see the timing belt skipping a notch! which would cause all the problems I'm having although when I took the valve cover off, I put it down and when i picked it up i found in the drops of oil it left, drops of antifreeze which shouldn't be there. It's also been downing lots of oil and antifreeze since the last over heat but yet the head gasket looks ok?!? have any opinion to that?

[MrZ]

nates6969;
What you describe does suggest your head has been warped. I dont know that you would be able to see obvious evidence of that looking at the gasket, it already has an impression from when it was originally seated between the head and block, and leakage may not leave a trail on the gasket for some time.

Personally, I would get the bottom end done completely at a good shop, and I would get the head done as well. There was a time when I would do a lot of this stuff myself, but I learned many years ago that it really makes more sense to let a good machine shop do the work. They have all the right tools, and they do it all the time, so they're good at it!

You probably already know this, but I'll say it anyway; take the time and make absolutely sure you've got everything aligned properly when you put the timing belt back on, and be extra careful getting the tensioner right. If you need any pointers on this, I can help, I've put two belts on my Talon in the 207,000 miles I've put on it, so I know the job pretty well.

Mark