97 pontiac sunfire

[diablo_09]

Originally our head had blown and luckily we had another one so we replaced the head and the car had started with a knocking noise on and off we shut the car off and removed the rocker arms where we found 3 bent pushrods... everything else seemed and looked fine. We replaced the pushrods and it started like a beauty! So as we took the car for a test drive all seemed good except the fact that the car was a little slow on accelerating and shifting...I had to release my foot from the gas for it to dwn shift and it continued fine. After about 7 miles of driving traffic started to slow and i released my foot from the gas and traffic started to speed up again...HERES THE PROBLEM.... Once I went to hit the gas nothing happened the car just stop going and I rolled to the middle of the street.. all my lights were on in the car. No warning light in anyway! When I tried to start the car then all my lights went off. Opened the hood and the battery cable popped off so we tightened it back up and tried to start the car...NO LUCK. It does crank and sounds like it wants to start but it just wont! We had a little help and pushed the car into a parking lot away from noisy traffic where we can hear a sound from the exhaust almost like a backfire(sounded like bass below us)...We had tried to spray starting fluid into the intake and nothing happened except for this..puffs of white smoke then a nice size fireball(we had noticed our cone on the cold air intake was melting before we sprayed so we removed it) Still no start! Doubt its the timing since its been done over and over and over and over again and its timed right!! After 2 days of sitting we tried to take a good look at the car checked for spark which we had we removed the spark plug attatched to wires n layed on the frame to check for spark when we did that we noticed white smoke coming from where the spark plug should go! Why? It is also backfiring from the intake also... And yes we have fuel!!!

 

[melsg5]

If you have white smoke coming out of the spark plug hole you either have a blown head gasket or cracked head.

 

[diablo_09]

No crack in the head its brand spanking new and there is a new head gasket in it... we took it apart and all is well plus if the head cracked we would have coolant in the oil and the oil is perfect in color n no foam or whiteish stuff in it either. Its popping loud through the intake when trying to start. It is no longer back firing from the exhaust either....What else could be the issue??

 

[diablo_09]

I'm thinking maybe my valves are not adjusted properly... the fact that the valve may not close all the way may cause the popping noise and the smoke... correct me if I'm wrong... since the fuel and air mixture is not being combusted right!! I am a female so I'm looked down upon when I talk about cars But I wanna make sure I am not missing anything that could also be the culprit here... The head is def not cracked tho n like I said its all new!!!

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[diablo_09]

Still confused on why the car will not start because the timing is right.......Just spoke to my father n he says if the push rod is bent it could stop the car from running and starting because it flooded from trying to start so much... could this be the case?? We are pulling the push rods out one by one to check em

Holy H E double hockey sticks...... Where they bent ohhh yes two were mangled two were slightyly bent n the others are fine... we will replace these and have a mechanic adjust them properly btw its a 2.2l ohv

 

[melsg5]

The other possiblity since you are bending pushrods is that the timing chain/gears have jumped a tooth and the valves are hitting the piston and bending the pushrods.