Thread: what did i do wrong? (long post)

This is on my 1.6L 1995 200sx se
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So about (august 08) I developed an exhaust leak at the header (broken stud at the bottom of cylinder 4) and the gasket blew out, replaced the stud and gasket (september 09 ish) i got tired of smelling exhaust, and then I heard a tapping sound inside the engine (cylinder 1 area) I really thought nothing of it,
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then after my sr20 200sx engine went (stuck thermostat in january) I started driving the 1.6L to work and school and the sound got annoying so I decided to figure out what it was, one time when I changed the oil I took the oil pan off- everything was fine, and then I took the valve cover off and the hydraulic timing chain tensioner was down to the metal, so when I got the new sr20 engine up and running I decided to change the timing chain tensioner on the 1.6L (about 3 weeks ago) I thought simple in simple out, not the case
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By the time I went to work on it the VTC sprocket (intake cam) chain was off by one tooth, the exhaust cam was off by 2 teeth, and the idler sprocket (don't know its real name) was off by one tooth and the bottom chain was fine, I was driving it that way for probably 40,000 miles,with no problems (and my g/f wonders why I like nissans)
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I put the crank on the proper timing mark, and then verified that cylinder #1 was tdc, and then checked the distributor and then that was on cylinder #1 also (I was using a haynes manual for instructions)
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So basically I took the old tensioner off, and I couldn't move the chain enough so I removed the exhaust cam sprocket, still couldn't get the chain to move around the idler sprocket, so I took the thermostat out and then water pump, and then loosened the bottom chain tensioner enough so I could get the chain moved, aligned that, and then put everything back together, gray rtv on all covers and seals, oem torque spec on all bolts,
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Then i turned the engine by the crank shaft bolt a few times around to make sure no binding or anything, put the valve cover on, and went to crank it
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At first it cranked then puttered like I just pulled the fuel pump fuse out (which I did before I started working on the car), I checked the fuse and it was in there,
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I looked under the car and a puddle of oil was there, the oil was coming from the crank shaft seal, and something didn't smell right, I looked at the exhaust pipe and a little bit of white smoke was coming out, I looked back at the engine and oil came out right by the distributor too, I pull the valve cover off and none of the marks on the chain are lined up anymore,
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What happened? I made sure the slack was on the side with the tensioner, it ran good with the chain not aligned right, but not when its actually right it doesn't want to run?
Did I ruin the engine? Its my only car that has a/c, this sucks.and I need the car out of the garage this weekend.
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Any ideas? If your local to me (west palm) your welcome to come check it out.
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Btw I drive between 50,000 to 70,000 miles a year, and right now I'm working 7 days a week and going to school 2 days a week, in 4 weeks ill be out of work till late november, I really don't need this right now.

I think the haynes manual ****ed you.

I think it did too.

Got your PM, and here's the long and the short of it:

As far as jumping a tooth on the timing chain, sure it's possible, but my experience is that it will make a ton of chain noise when the engine runs before it jumps a tooth. Basically, you'll know. The marks on the cam sprockets and chain will only line up once in a blue moon, so to check your timing, you're going to have to get it to TDC and eye it out. Use the FSM as a reference. I agree the Haynes manual will get you in trouble. They're good for basic maintenance, but anything outside that is sketchy. If this is the '95 SE we're dealing with here, the same FSM covers the 1.6 and 2.0, so I'd get it downloaded. They'll show you nice diagrams of the cam sprockets at cyl1 TDC and you can compare.

I'd also do a compression check and, if you have air, a leak-down. Simple little procedures that will help everyone out greatly. I'd expect somewhere in the 5-10% area on the leak-down test, but I can't remember the specs for compression on the 1.6. FSM will have it, though, in all 3 measures (in case you like using kPa or ATM :rofl.

As for the oil leak, you said it's coming from the crankshaft seal. Are we talking the outside seal, behind the harmonic balancer/crank pulley? If so, you're in luck, since it's easy to replace. I'd bet it's unrelated if that's the case. Make sure, though, of where the leak is coming from before digging in. Nothing pisses people off more than replacing something just to find it wasn't the issue. Use some brake cleaner or other solvent to clean that side of the engine as good as possible, and then run it again. If it's still leaking, make sure it isn't dripping down the side cover from someplace else, like the oil pump, head gasket, or valve cover.

Hopefully this gets you some answers, or at least gets you looking in the right direction.

As far as the FSM goes I'm using a blackberry and can't download pdf files on it, my computer has a dead hard drive
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Where can I get a leak down tester and compression tester? Can I just rent them from advance auto or autozone?
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The chain is off by about 10 teeth, I was starting to believe I bent the valves and needed a new head, but I guess ill do a compression test to find out
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What do you mean by get it to tdc and eye it out?
Could the vtc sprocket change the timing because it didn't recognize the timing since I re-aligned the teeth?
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I've had the car for 4 years now and it has never leaked a drop of oil, I didn't mess with the oil pump or the crank seal, so why all of a sudden is it leaking a puddle of oil after I fixed the mechanical timing? (It came from behind the crank pulley)
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Btw thank you for your help.
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Ah, damn, thats the best way to do it. Some other south florida guys might be able to help you out, or maybe you can use a library computer to look up the timing info.
Compression tester yes. You could probably get a leak-down tester there too, but you need to have compressed air at your house in order to use it.
10 teeth??? Where? How? I mean, if you don't know where the cams are supposed to be at TDC, how do you know how many teeth they're off?

You need to do the same thing we do on SR20s for a quick check. Get Cyl #1 to TDC and then compare the cam sprocket timing marks to the FSM's diagram. It's not exact, but you can usually tell if they're off.

As long as you set everything with the engine at TDC and aligned all the marks between sprockets and chain, you should have zero issues.
Like I said, it's probably unrelated to the timing questions. Seals do go bad once in a while, this just might be that time. If you're confident it's leaking from behind that pulley, just tap another one on and you should be good to go.

I was just talking to my dad he was telling me I should be able to see if the valves are bent just by looking at the lifters, as in did they return to the bottom of the cam lobe when the valves are not open
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Is that true with the lifters we have (they are hydraulic right?)
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I can't seem to find a leakdown tester anywhere but the internet, and yes I do have an air compressor

I've been told the lifters are hydraulic.
After all, there is no maintenance for adjustment on them.

If they're significantly bent, yes, you'll be able to notice it. Since hydraulic lashers are designed to take out the play between cam and rocker, though, a small bend or similar won't be noticeable visually, only with a leak-down test.

As for getting a leak-down tester, Harbor freight has one:
Cylinder Leak-Down Tester

Looks as though you may need to straight buy one, but I'd call alround and talk with each parts retailer in your area and make sure they don't have something you can rent.

BTW, did you do a compression test yet? And, does the engine crank freely? Compression numbers will also give is a good idea of what's going on in there.

So I had some time tonight and looked at the engine, I thought about doing the compression test but I ended up looking at the fsm and I did everything right, but I wanted to check the mechanical timing before trying to crank the engine over again,
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So first I removed all of the sparkplugs and I tried turning the engine by hand and there are tight spots (not sure why) but I took the timing cover off and tried to get the marks ligned up and not one of the marks line up, then I noticed a tooth missing on the intermediate sprocket (I'm pretty sure it wasn't like that before as I had checked everything to make sure nothing else needed to be replaced while I was in there), so I'm guessing its dead as it sits
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But ill take it all apart and realign the timing chain just to see what the compression is, I don't think it would make sense to do a compression test if the mechanical timing isn't right, right?
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From the looks of everything the valves aren't significantly bent by looking at the lifters, but by looking at the top of the pistons through the spark plug holes it looks like the carbon deposits were disturbed ie. flaking
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If I get a day off this week ill head to harbor freight and get a leakdown tester since I've called 10 places and most of them never heard of it (stupid minimum wage know nothing counter help). I figure I could at least do that without cranking the engine over and probably get a better answer as to what's going on in there