Ok i'm working on a freinds truck for him. Here is what happened

he blew plug number 3 out of truck and continued to drive it like that for a while
I got the truck from him and after inspection determined that the best solution would be to put a used head on it.
I found him a used head proceeded to install it. I got it properly timed and put back together. I had to replace 1 COP and injector because of the damage.

I started it up and it is missing horribly.
I got out the NOID lights and checked ALL of the injectors on the passenger side they are lighting up.
I did a compression test on all cylinders and both sides of the truck are showing 115-125psi
I tested to see if i was getting spark on the passenger side cylinders and i am. I even bought new coils for that entire side and still no difference.

My fuel pressure is reading 35psi from the schrader valve. which i believe is in spec.

I also presurized the fuel rail and manually triggered the injectors to make sure they indeed were firing and the pressure drops instantly.

So i've got compression
I've got fuel and injection
I've got spark

what the heck is going on with this thing.

While it is running i can unplug any injector or plug on the passenger side with NO effect on the RPM

Any of the plugs or injectors pulled on the drivers side will cause the RPM to drop significantly.

So basically it's running on the drivers side 4 cylinders but not getting power or significant power from the passengerside.

i don't get this. I need some ideas! please any thoughts!

 

one more piece of info.

The plugs are all new and the ones on the drivers side look great. a nice clean burn and the ceramic is clean white color
the plugs on the passenger side have a black dry carbon on the white ceramic which is telling me it is not buring proper. but i don't know why. could this be a vacuum line or something else not hooked up correct that is causing 1/2 the engine not to run clean?

 

The camshaft likely is not timed correctly on it's chain.
That's the only thing you had to be accurate about.
The fact the other side is ok seems to support this.
Nothing else changes.
Fuel injection is timed off the other bank.
Ignition is timed off the crank sensor.
There is no code for a condition like this. It's just not expected to be a normal problem.
Good luck.

 

Did you set the timing moving stuff from the old head or did the new head have the cam and sprocket on it?

 

ummmm

 

Way rich or weak spark.
Did the plug on the way out damage the COP and/or injector harness?

(What year, what engine?)

 

ok i'll try and catch everyones questions

2000 f-150 5.4

yes when it blew the plug it destroyed the coil, injector and wiring harness connectors.

It looks as if since he drove it so long like that it actually had a mini fire melting stuff....yikes.

Anyway i got a used head that had valves and a cam on it. I moved his cam over to it. I repaired the wiring harness connectors and inspected inside the harness for further damage.

So i've pulled the timing cover and valve covers off for a third time yesterday and i think i may have found something.

Even though i did NOT touch the drivers side chain at any point in time it looks VERY loose on the bottom side of the chain. I'm speculating that because of this it has jumped enough to make it run like crap.
Why would a chain jump like this? I haven't pulled the tensioner off of that side so i guess that is the next step. Pull the tensioner off the drivers side and see if it is still springy then reset both chains.

I might price out new tensioners just in case but it seems weird that that side would have gotten loose since i never touched that side and this thing was running fine before it blew the plug.

it's enough to drive a guy crazy! good news is that i got a few new cool tools to add to my collection. NOID light set, Compression tester, fuel pressure tester...etc etc

and i can also pull the valve covers and timing cover in about an hour now. I'll update once i get it all together and re-timed.

 

I know on some stuff I have worked on if you turn the motor the wrong way the belt or chain will jump a tooth (or cog). Sounds like you have it on the run.....good luck and let us know how it comes out.

 

Just to be sure you know, the chain tensioners are operated from oil pressure not spring tension.
Good luck.

 

i knew that however there is a spring and lockback mechanism that sets the initial pressure correct? otherwise the chain would jump right off before your oil pressure could push it out.

 

With the compression test being so even between the two banks, I'd really be surprised that the timing is off.
But......I await your update

 

You probably have the cam 180 degrees out. The slack on the driver's side chain is ok it is caused by a valve trying to close which forces the cam to rotate against the tensioner. If the pass side is 180 out you will still have compression on that side but the plug will fire on the exhaust stroke. Take both valve covers off and verify the cam timing. BTW, there are proven methods to repair a blown out spark plug without pulling the cylinder head.

 

I don't see how it is even possible to have a cam 180 degrees off. If you mark your chain single link on one side and 2 links on the other when it is flat then line the single link with the crankshaft mark on the small gear and the double links on either side of the cam gear how could you go wrong?
I set the crankshaft with the mark at the bottom when the drivers side cam is at the 12:00 position per all the documents i could find.

 

BTW the plug repair was done by my friend before it blew out for a second time. when it blew out the second time it took a chunk of the head about the size of a dime on the side of the spark plug hole with it.
So i don't see how this could have been repaired without a monster size insert and i don't think even a "big-sert" would be big enough to fix this hole.

 

It was just a suggestion, you said you have fuel, compression, and spark so something has to be out of time. For the whole right side of the engine not firing the cam is the only common part. Cal-van has a insert kit that uses large inserts and a 3/4" tap. I was unaware of the previous spark plug repair but if the thin heli-coil insert was used then there should be enough metal left to hold the cal-van insert. The method you described for the timing chain is correct but did you make sure the driver's side was in time too? Since you just removed the right head it's possible to get the cam 180 out if you turn the crank.