Christine's commenser not working

[michaedo]

Had a major falling out with Christine today. Decided that's the name of my sport wagon. Anyway, her commenser quit workin' and she's not commencin' to start. If you read the "oil pressure up the wazoo" thread, you know that she popped two oil filter gaskets on start up. Was told it was because pump cover was on backwards. I checked and, sure enough, the cover was on backward. Turned it around, pulled the dissy to re-prime the pump. Did so, plugged the dissy back in, and now Christine is not commencin' to start. I've moved everything to be firin' on #1, right when the book says. Sparkjumps from the spark plug lead to ground, fuel is dumping into the carb. This engine has literally kicked my ass. I guess what I'm lookin' for is an exorcist in the NorCal area to rid Christine of her demons 'cause I've reached the stage of befudlement, trying to understand the nuances of German engineering. I'm at the end of my rope, so to speak. Stopped in at an Indy Euro car garage. "I don't work on anything older than me," said the owner. "Where's the scanner plug in?" says another. Jeez. Anway, I'm askin', is there any mechanic in the Sacramento area that won't quiver like a bowl full of jelly when I mention, oh, yeah, it's an Opel. Oh gosh, I feel better now, thanks for putting up with my rand. Battery should be charged up enough for another go at it, I'll let you know how it turns out...
Don.

[Paul]

swap your plug wires between 1 & 4 and 2 & 3...

[Anonymous D]

You might have more success, by doing a lot of research before actually starting the repairs you are trying to accomplish, rather than asking for suggestions (when there's a problem afterwards).

Example: Engine Timing setup (downloads dated June 2006) is available at:

Engine

[Turbo X]

sound like your 180 off on timing... check :
#1 cyl. at tdc. distributor rotor at #1 post

[Opelkurt]

Originally Posted by michaedo Stopped in at an Indy Euro car garage. "I don't work on anything older than me," said the owner. "Where's the scanner plug in?" says another. Jeez. Anway, I'm askin', is there any mechanic in the Sacramento area that won't quiver like a bowl full of jelly when I mention, oh, yeah, it's an Opel. Oh gosh, I feel better now, thanks for putting up with my rand. Battery should be charged up enough for another go at it, I'll let you know how it turns out... Don.

It's sad when any "mechanic" (not you michaedo; the paid "professional") has so little understanding of basic engine operating principles that they can't trouble-shoot an engine as simple as a 1.9 Opel. They don't make them any simpler than that... Sure, there are a couple curveballs in there, but still- I rebuilt my 1st 1.9 at age 16, with no repair manual. The machine shop looked up the torque specs for me and the rest was common sense.

-Kurt

[jeff denton]

Yes you have to be able to understand the difference between a mechanic and a technician. A mechanic knows how an engine runs because of a series of mechanical events all timed properly. A technician's expertise is in the sensors and computers that make modern equipment run.
Turbo's advice only left out one factor: valve timing.
OGTS's little instruction sheet is by far the simplest, best explained explanation of timing the Opel engine. Once you "get it" you'll never forget it, and the key is really to only understand that cylinder number one and cylinder number four get kind of mixed up.
Every time we go through this we get the same result. 180 degrees off.
Best way to learn and understand this yourself is to pull the valve cover, roll the engine over slowly and watch the #1 intake valve. When it shuts, keep rolling till just about TDC. Now look at the rotor. It must be pointing right at the terminal on the cap that is wired to #1 plug. Now, is that not the simplest method yet? This method works on any engine. Of course, it is not checking actual valve timing nor exact ignition timing. If you got either of them screwed up somehow you have just a little more work to do.
Oh, by the way, it has nothing to do with German engineering. It is basic automotive 101, the early chapter dealing with strokes and sparks and stuff. Like Kurt said, common sense. Repair Books will confuse you every time if you don't know the basics.

[michaedo]

Finally able to put some time into Christine. Checked, double checked, triple checked dissy install. Yes it is plugged in correctly. Got spark, got fuel. Got no pop.
Checked compression:
#1 - 220
#2 - 200
#3 - 220
#4 - 220
Checked leak down:
#1 - 68% into crankcase mostly
#2 - 100% into crankcase, into #1, some into #3
#3 - 75% into crankcase mostly
#4 - 38% in crankcase

I'm figuring the leakage into the crankcase is due to new rings not broken in.
With #2 I can feel air coming out of the spark plug hole of #1 and #3, so I'm figuring I've got a blown head gasket around #2.
Checked torque on the head bolts and all were right at 72lbs.
Am I needin' to do some kinda mods due do the rather high compression being realized?
Thanks,
Don.