Engine cranks but does not start

AL514

MECHANIC
4,697 POSTS

Hi there, it's been a while since this case, but I'm glad things worked out for you. I wonder if the timing belt was off by one tooth, that would explain a lot of the codes, and also possibly the intake vacuum code, Incorrect valve timing would definitely cause low engine vacuum. But if it is running good and no codes, that's sweet. Good work. Sometimes we need to just go over things again. Its easy to get stuck in a rabbit hole doing diagnostics. Have to step away once and awhile and come back to it. Glad to hear the good news. Have a nice day.

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Sunday, January 30th, 2022 AT 9:01 AM

JOHNNYRAY67

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Well, that was short lived. The car has been running good up until yesterday. Now it will not start again. Turns over and a couple cylinders fire and wants to start but will not run again. Only one code P0300 misfire detected at idle and nothing else. Battery voltage is good and load test is good. I finally received the replacement PCM and put that in but no change. Guess I will start testing again. I'm going to check the valve timing again because it's doing same thing it was before I fixed it last time.

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Tuesday, February 8th, 2022 AT 2:43 PM

AL514

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Hello, sorry to hear the bad news, it's been one of those days for me too. Do your regular checks, make sure you have spark and injector pulse just to be sure, and if the timing belt happened to jump, I would be wondering about the tensioner condition. I assume a new tensioner came in the timing belt kit you installed the first time. And if it is losing oil pressure or something else is happening to cause this. I will go through the bulletins and see if there's anything specific I can find relating to this issue. This is an interference engine, so hopefully there was no contact between the pistons and valves.

There are some bulletins on excessive carbon build up on the valves and valve seating areas causing misfires, no start, extended crank times and rough idle.

Is there any freeze frame data with that code? That would help a lot.

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Tuesday, February 8th, 2022 AT 3:23 PM

JOHNNYRAY67

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I went over everything I previously did three times and cannot find the problem. It still won't start. So, I decided to check for spark, okay for #1 cylinder. Then pulled the plug, it was all wet. Then cranked over without plug and water/antifreeze shot out of cylinder. So, now gasket is blown or worse. I can only imagine. I don't know if this car is even worth fixing. It was designed to fail. Chevrolet decided to buy a bankrupt company (Daewoo) and push these pieces of junk on the American people. I'm 55 years old and have bought nothing but Chevrolet my whole life but will never ever buy another Chevrolet again. This car is not only a disgrace but a nightmare, as I notice the A/C condensate has been dripping on the sheet metal, they call a frame and has rotted it out to become a major hazard on the road. Chevrolet should have pulled all these lemons off the road a while ago. It's a disgrace to make a car that needs to go to the junkyard that hasn't even had 75,000 miles on it.

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Sunday, February 13th, 2022 AT 1:37 PM

AL514

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I'm really sorry to hear that; you are absolutely correct, they don't make cars like they used to, half of the engines are now plastic. Plastic intake manifolds, if it was that bad, there's probably other cylinders full of coolant, I am surprised it didn't hydro lock on you being that bad. I can go through and look at recall information if you want. But since now the frame is rotted out, the vehicle sounds unsafe to drive. Plus, you're also correct on who knows what else is wrong, cracked block, bend connecting rod because of hydro lock occurring and not even knowing it. But I am truly sorry for such bad news. I don't think throwing a used engine in it at this point is worth it. You could try trading it in. Get something semi used with a better record of performance.