any body have a spare engine they can take pictures of?

If you can then do a compression test on the engine. That may tell us quite a bit.

 

Well on a GTS head if I remember correctly it uses shims (little round disks like small hockey pucks) that are different thicknesses. So if the clearances are too great then you will have to take out the old shim and put in a new thicker shim.

Well I remember you saying before that you had some compression in at least 1 cylinder

so if you have even half decent compression in all cylinders and spark and the timing is correct it has to be fuel related (i've even heard of the engine having very low compression in one cylinder and still running fine). If you say you can't smell gas after cranking the engine check back at the mufler. It should be pumping out unburnt fuel and air, I think you should be able to smell fuel if the injectors are shooting any into the cylinders.

 

If the timing belt has slipped again then it's an issue you HAVE TO FIX. You don't want to get the engine started and have it jump and have the piston smash a valve. There is no way it should be slipping unless the camshaft bearings are way to tight or a valve is stuck closed or the belt isn't tensioned properly.

 

If theres a piston in the cylinder it should register something ?

 

You need to loosen the No. 1 idler pulley set bolt and tighten the belt some more and re torque the set bolt to 32 ft lb(43Nm) Step 22

 

I'm pretty sure you should be around 120 -130 psi

 

Got any good pics of the cylinders before you put the head back on.

You said you had coolant coming out of the exhaust when you bought the car ?

 

Okay Compression Test

1) remove all 4 spark plugs
2) unplug the cold start injector
3) unplug the 4 fuel injectors
4) floor the gas pedal and crank the engine for 2-3 seconds
5) take the highest reading the guage gave you.

Try pouring a teaspoon of new motor oil into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and do the test again. If the pressure increases your rings or cylinder walls are damaged.

 

Actually I would consider 150psi a low result. My '86 SX has 170psi minimum and my white lightning had 200psi across all 4.

Sterling - You've got issues man. I hope that the tester is wrong, or was used incorrectly - otherwise :shock:

 

Did the compression tester seal properly in the cylinder, no leakage around the spark plug hole?

Your low compression could also be caused by the valves being held open from incorrect cam timing - all the compression may be being blown back through the inlet or exhaust. Did you ever get the TDC marks to line up properly on cylinder 1? If you haven't fixed this yet than do that first.

 

Actually I've been thinking about this, to get compression results that low your engine would have practically exploded inside, even worn rings would give at least 100psi result. The low compression is all caused by your cams. Have you re-shimmed all the valve clearances when you swapped cams? Did you re-fit the cam caps back on where they came from (didn't mix sides or swap them around)?

 

Well that sucks. I wish you lived a bit closer. I'd give you either a 3sge block or a complete 3sgte engine which needs the turbo rebuilt/replaced.

I would have even considered trading you the celica for my 85 supra(rwd) once I got the floor finished.

XR Pilot I quoted 120-130psi because that is the minimum value and a compression test is suposed to be done with a warm engine so his readings are going to be a bit lower with a cold engine. If he can put oil in the cylinders and bring the pressure up from 10 psi to 80-90psi then he definetely has cylinder problems. When Sterling bought the car the previous owner had

so I can pretty much bet the car was driven by the previous owner with coolant in the cylinders so I'm betting the rings and cylinder walls are not a pretty picture.