so if it was vapor lock could i not just remove all the plugs and at that point it should at least crank over right?

 

Definitely! Should be able to pull the plugs and if thing is ok, rotate the crank fairly easily...

 

if i did infact bend one of the rods how would i know, is a visual inspection the only way, because if thats the case i basicaly have to tear the motor down to the block.

 

ok here is an up date!!!

for the last 4 weekends i have been working on my sisters car. which is y i have pretty much dissapered from the forums recently.

i started by disassembeling the motor. i took out the spark plugs and discovered some interesting things.
1. cyl.1 and 3 were completly usless #1 spark plugg was completely destroyed( in a way i have never seen, not even in pictures)
#3 Plug was bent so that the contacts were touching.
2. i peered into the cyl through the spark plug holes and i could see metal shavings in the #1 cyl.
they were all coplelty black and coverd it wat looked like cacked on oil.
after seeing that i decided to pull the cam covers (maily because they were easy to get to). they looked perfect, never seen any better. at this point i was some what puzzeled. what could have caused that kind of damage to the spark plugs and metal shaving to be in the combustion chamber? we tried to start it and their was absolutly no diffrence at all(ruling out vapor lock) i decided the best coa was to pull the motor and tear it apart untill i could see exactly what was going on.

that took another entire weekend.

3 weekes in now and i had the motor on an engine stand i began tearing it down. i pulled off the oil pan and discovered the #1 piston was cracked on the side wall and their was a hole punched in the top (not good). i could not understand what could have caused that givin that the cams look fine. i decided to pull the head off complely(which is a major pita on the in-line 2.4l) when i got the head off it was a scene of total devistation.
both of the exhaust valve heads were broken off in the #1 cyl and sitting on the piston. both were exactly the same for the #3 cyl and 1 valve was broken on the #4 cyl. meaning that the car was effectivly running on 1 cylender. the head itself was also smashed by the valve heads that had broken off and been slamed into the head by the pistons. we, at this point, elected to get a new motor. i was however completly amazed at the lack of colateral damage. asid form the head valves and pistons their was virtualy no damage to speak off. i am completly confident that i could have replaced the afore mentioned and the car would have ran fine. really amazing.

i eventualy determined that the timing chain tensioner malfunctioned, eaither mechanicaly or by a falty install (it apperes that some one whas in the timing chain area recently, there were brand new gaskets all around). when the tensioner broke it allowed chain motion that eventualy caused one of the guides to break as well. this allowed the timing chain to skip teeth on the exhaust cam and thus push the valves down at the wrong point during the stroke. causing the valves and pistons to collide and the valves to break. the timing gears actualy skipped on me when i was trying to remove the timing chain cam bolts.

having figured it out and ordered a new engine this last weekend i placed the new engine in. we are still waiting for the crank and cam position sensors and i will finish hooking up the rest of the electrical and loose ends this weekend. it should be running then (fingers crossed).

ill let you guys know how it turned out and hopefuly post some pics next week.

 

ok guys i know its been a while but here are the pics i promised. they were taken by my dad with my sisters camera so dont blame me for the quality.
http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u...iac%20Sunfire/

it is running now. and has been doing great for about 3 weeks. the only problem is right when you start it up. it has a really rough and irractic idle. if you let it go on its own sometimes it even dies. this geraly happens when you drive it a short distance (to the end of the block) and then push the clutch in to stop at the end of the street. the rpms drop and it dies. my sis said that it did this long before she ever had the serious engine problems. when rebuilding the motor i noticed thath the refrence tube to the map sensor was cracked all over the place so i thought this might be the culprit and i replaced it, to no avail. i tried to hook it up to my pcm scan but it cannot detect the car. which if you remember back to the top is the same thing that happend to the guys at the auto parts store where it originaly died. so i am thingking that there is deffentely something wrong with the obd port and that maybe the problem is in the computer. i will probably try to get a fuel pressure gage and check things on that end. all of the injectors looked great but i cleaned them ne way while they were off. any ideas on this one are welcome.

 

have you checked the throttle position sensor?

 

Or maybe the idle air control valve, if it's got one...

Sometimes a cat that's on it's way out can cause it to stall... Or produce very odd smells, such as coffee, strawberries, watermelon...

 

mmmmm, srtraaaaawbeeeerrrries