OK I start my car in front of my house. Sitting at idle the car just dies.
I attempt to restart i hear the engine turign but no fire.
I assume its the DME relay and carry olong wiht my day and get in my truck.

I replace DME relay and attempt to start..still nothing.
I figured no spark so i check the cap and rotor. I take off cap and turn the key so i can get the rotor to turn....its not moving.

Ive tried to trun it over a few times but the rotor jsut inst moving.

My tach jumps and the starter turns and i have a full tank of gas.

I'm prepared for the worst so please guys tell me what the deal is.

 

Your worst fear has come true..If its turning over,and the rotor is not spinning,your timing belt is done.

 

if you think it might be your timing belt, dont try to start it, its like 7 bolts to get the top part of the covers off, easy to eliminate that as one of your possibilities

 

i know we have an interferance engine, now just sitting at idle how screwed do you think my valves are?

 

Congrats, you just bought eight valves.

 

And another one bites the dusttt.

Not sure what year your car is but if it's 85.5-87, I think my spare head from an 85.5 would work for you. Let me know if you need it, itll be reasonably priced.

 

and maybe while its off, get danno's valve relief notcher so it wont happen again(?)

 

I'm new here, can you explain how this works? thanks

 

hderr, i dont remember the specifics on it. But do remember the post a few months ago. Danno had the idea of maching a small amount of material off the top of the piston to essentially make them non interference. It was said that the loss of compression was marginal and wouldnt make much of a difference. Thats all i really remember about it.

I believe the post was in the Turbo forum, but i cant remember exactly. Do a search on it.

 

Welcome to the Order of the Bent Valve:

 

Thanks, I'll take a look over there.

 

Before you let most of these people put you in a panic check everthing first. I had a cam tensioner failure and got the same responses "you got bent valves" well guess what none of my valves were bent so don't assume they are just yet.

Visually inpect the belt.

Check your compression.

Pull the cam tower.

And lastly pull the head if need be.

Make sure you check everything first and foremost before assuming the worst.

If you do have bent valves, that's not that big a deal either.
I just replaced the head on my S2(even though the old head was fine) and It's not as daunting a job as you might think. Plus I did a lot of the "while your in there work.

If you have bent valves and are on a budget just buy a used head. I see them go from $80-$150. You'll come out cheaper than having yours rebuilt. Lots of people here to help you out so don't get intimidated.

When most people have a problem here they get positive responses and help, but as soon as some mentions broken or skipped tooth belt you get the "your screwed" response which isn't so. Don't let it get you down we'll have you up and running no time.

 

Yup, sounds like the belt is gone if your rotor isn't turning. I had mine die at idle, and i cranked and cranked and cranked to get it started before i relized what had happened (my belt was intact, but the teeth were stripped around the crank...i couldnt see the belt not moving until i had someone crank the engine for me while i watched the belt). Ended up having only 1 bent valve. Others have it occur at the same situation, and have 4,6,8 bent valves.....go figure. You won't know the damage until you take it apart and get it looked at.

 

i'll check it tomorrow, hope for the best prepare for the worst.

 

How old was the belt?