I’m redoing the engine on a 2005 PT cruiser 2.4 L engine. My daughter let I it overheat in the head warped. I had to head playing down in the valves rework. When I bolted to head back down in the camshaft back in place I put the valve covers on and went to line the camshafts up so I could put the time in Belgium. The right camshaft or intake springs ford like it should when I turn it. The left side turns but doesn’t have the same spring action better right side does. I can feel where the camp chef should spring ford and should stop when turning it and it has the same resistance as the right camshaft when I turn it it just doesn’t spring forward. I remove the valve cover in manually Spohn the camshaft watching the valves to make sure they were all working properly which they did. All the caps we’re taking off and placed into individual Ziploc bags that were numbered with the sequence order and either an L or an IR for the left or right side. When the head was returned I was told the machinist had stamped the numbers onto the top of the That we’re on the bag. I’m thinking there’s possibility that he accidentally mixed some of the caps up on the left side. Should I take the time to move the caps around until I get the right combination and see if this problem will correct itself or will it matter if I leave them where they’re at now ?
Please excuse the grammatical errors in my post are use the talk to text app to compose this.
Why don’t you edit it so we can understand it. I am confused.
OK, sorry about the first posting. Here is the corrected version.
I’m redoing the engine on a 2005 PT cruiser 2.4 L engine. My daughter let I it overheat in the head warped. I had the head planed down and the valves rework. I bolted the head back down and the camshafts back in place, I put the valve covers on and went to line the camshafts up so I could put the timing belt back on. The right camshaft or intake springs forward like it should when I turn it. The left side turns but doesn’t have the same spring action the right side does. I can feel where the camshaft should spring ford and should stop when turning it and it has the same resistance as the right camshaft when I turn it it just doesn’t spring forward. I remove the valve cover and manually spun the camshaft watching the valves to make sure they were all working properly which they did. All the caps were took off and placed into individual Ziploc bags that were numbered with the sequence order and either an L or an R for the left or right side when I removed the head. When the head was returned I was told the machinist had stamped the numbers onto the top of the caps that were on the bag. I’m thinking there’s a possibility that he accidentally mixed some of the caps up on the left side. Should I take the time to move the caps around until I get the right combination and the spring action returns to this camshaft like it should or since the camshaft is spinning without getting into a bind is it ok to just continue on as is?
New caps, shells, and a new camshaft might be your best bet. On a used ass’y all the parts should be installed at same place and orientation as where they were removed from. Suggest to cost that out.
It’s unclear to me what the cause of the problem is but all camshaft caps should go back in the same order they were removed.
That being said, I don’t think mixing any of the caps up is the cause of this problem.
Just some food for thought. When an engine is severely overheated pistons, piston rings, and cylinder walls can be damaged. The lower end can also be damaged if the blown head gasket causes engine coolant to mix with motor oil.
I ALWAYS run a compression test before head removal; even on a blown head gasket. The cylinder with the gasket breach will not provide any useful info but the unbreached cylinders can.
Severe overheating can also weaken valve springs and take the tension out of them. I would hope the person doing the valve work checked this at the time. If not, they should have.
You can try pushing down on the valve spring collars with a screwdriver. They should be somewhat difficult to depress. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
The guy who did it checked the compression. He said the valves on one side were gone and had lost compression. He did a valve job when he planed the head. The guy has done this for years and builds heads for race cars so I give him credit for knowing what he is doing. Just thought maybe a cap may have gotten stamped wrong and put in the wrong spot.
Valve-to-valve contact can occur if the camshafts are rotated out of time or independently. If you must rotate one camshaft at a time remove the other camshaft first so that the valves operated by that cam are closed.
You should have installed the camshafts properly timed, then installed the timing belt before rotating the engine.
the type of head makes a difference too. some cams push down on the cam buckets and do not use finger style followers or rocker arms. if the rocker arms are backed off than rotating the cams should have no resistance since they are not pushing against any valve springs. so all the cams should rotate with the same feel.
I think I’d listen to the advice @Nevada_545 gave and take both camshafts off again, then set the crankshaft to the timing marks and install the camshafts as close as possible to the right locations for reinstalling the timing belt. Don’t install them and then turn them, put them down in the right place the first time. That will eliminate any possibility of valve interference. Then you can do your testing to see if the resistance is equal in both shafts, but do it one at a time, only turn the shaft in the correct direction and always return the shaft to its correctly timed position before you test the other one.
OP said they removed " the valve cover and manually spun the camshaft watching the valves to make sure they were all working properly which they did." If that test was done & interpreted correctly, valve to valve or valve/piston interference isn’t likely to be the problem. OP: Did you verify the appropirate valves were opening and closing at the correct times w/respect to the crankshaft degree of rotation?
George, wish I could tell you yes or no, i just watched the cam spin over each lifter/valve and they all worked accordingly. Just to update this post, I decided there is no fool like an old fool and the lord loves a fool, so I put the timing belt on, actually got it perfect the first time (that will never happen again), buttoned up the car, put water and oil in it tonight, and it cranked up and ran perfectly. I think I even fixed a previous problem with an engine code of P0016 that kept coming up (looked like a bad engine ground I discovered in the reassembly process). So, thanks to everyone for the advice. I guess the good lord was looking out for me on this one.
There’s always that random chance you’ll do the job right, even when you know you’re screwing it up. Congratulations!