head gasket,valve job,timing chain
 

I am going to start a head gasket,valve job and timing chain replacement on my 2002 chrysler sebring xli v6 2.7 engine,, I have done valve jobs on
other vehicles like, saturn, ford focus,daewoo but these cars are four cylinder 2.4 or less and only one head not v6's, so any suggestions will be appreciated,, I will take photos and post them as i go along so wish me luck. right now the car won't start and it turns freely with no sign of compression so I figure the timing chain messed up and i hope the valves were not bent nor the pistons hit because the chain broke.

Get a shop manual, or at least a Chilton's or Haynes. You'll need some special tools to install and tension the timing chain.

We'll be looking forward to your reports and pix.

head gasket,valve job,timing chain
 

I worked a few hours taking the motor apart, needless to say I am already
sorry, but now I have to finish this.

Yes, I will need a manual to put the timing chain back and tightening it, plus I will need the tightening sequence for the head and the amount of torque. Thanks.

photo gallery
 

I have posted a couple of pictures already, they are in the photo gallery since I am not sure where to put them

photo gallery
 

Ok, I guess I know how to upload pictures now.

two more

dont wast your time any more unless u want to rebuild the whole motor u slugged up the engine

Thanks for the advise of not wasting more time, I thought about it when I saw the sludge, I am going to have to remove one piston just to check how it looks in there and I might just do a on the spot rebuild just change the rings and rod bearings,, I know I am taking a gamble here but the truth is that I just bought the car about a month ago for about twelve $ and though it was a good deal to put some time and money on it. any more advise about the sludge about what other problems to look for would be appreciated

That thing has certainly seen better days. Good luck with it.

:) Ok, I am done taking this engine apart, now its time to start fixing things.
The intake valves where all bent, lucky me,. the Crankshaft on the number one piston was scratched by the rod bearing, it wore out much faster thant the others, most of the rod bearings look good, The timing chain was streched alot, the tensioner was ok so the chain just gave in. The sludge doesn't seem to be that bad on the short block as bad as it looks on the heads, so now its time to have the heads to a shop for a new valve job and start buying the rings, rod bearings,chain, gaskets etc.

the sludge cause the #1 to do that it would have spun eventually I am building my 2.7 as well 98 with 192k on it. Block has been cleaned heads redone new chain kit from chrysler waiting on my secondary chain tensioners to come in.

Good luck with your rebuild, I have a question, since I am doing a on the spot rebuild, I am just going to polish the scratched crankshaft so would
you say it is going to be ok?

might as well go all out have a machine shop turn the crank or look at it along with the heads. Clean out as much of the sludge at the lower end as u can

I have a question on timing the chain,,the books says to put the piston one on tdc and the intake camshaft should be at 90 degrees to the surface of the heads and the secondary chain should have twelve pins between the marks on intake and exhaust cams.. and I get that part no problem..... the book confuses me because then it talks about the crankshaft mark to be aling with the mark on the oil pump and the color marks on the chain to be on the camshafts marks so I am thinking what its going to be?? the latter shows the mark on the crankshaft to be at 4 to 5 oclock but I don't know where the camshaft mark should be?

sorry I don't know what the administrator is talking when he says I have a virus,,I run mackafee virus remover all the time and nothing comes up.

By the way I put new pistons, rings, rod bearings, purchase all the valves since the intakes were all bent and did a valve job on it, the water pump is new the oil pump is new of course all new gaskets, intake exhaust etc,,
I have to stop the work to get some help with the timing of the chain and I had to wait for the brand new lifters since I was going to put the same old ones but some of them had a play means you could push them and pull on them and some of them you could't, so I ordered new ones instead.

also the crankshaft was not scratch, what i felt was a build up from the rodbearing wearing so a little sanding with a 320 left a nice clean crank.
I also bought a new primary chain tensioner so it looks good, its taking me
longer to finish because I work from 1pm to 1am on my regular job, but its looking good so far.

Camshaft timing marks
 

Let me take a stab at answering this for you. The timing chain should have four plated links on its front surface. Two of them are next to each other and the other two are not.
When the crankshaft is at TDC, one of the plated links should be right at the timing mark on the crankshaft sprocket (about 4 o'clock). The two links that are together should be on either side of the left (front) camshaft sprocket timing mark (12 o'clock). The third plated link should be right on top of the right (rear) camshaft sprocket (a hair past 12 o'clock).

Hope that helps

Thank you for that . I am goint to try that as soon as I get the lifters and the tensioner, but Am I doing something wrong then since when I put the piston at TDC the cranckshaft sprocket mark is not at 4 o'clock, but at 12 o'clock??

The important thing is that the correct links are positioned at the timing marks. The relative positions of the marks is what is important, not the absolute position at any given time. With the crank timing mark at 12 o'clock, you can't be certain that the correct link will contact the timing mark. The installation procedure specifies that the timing mark be at about 4 o'clock so you can make sure the link is on it. If it's not TDC, that's OK.

Still confused one thing you said,," left(front) and right(rear)can you be so kind to clarify that for me since here is how I am looking at it.. if I am standing in front of the engine ( not in front of the car), the two intake camshafts are towards the center of the engine and the the left intake is towards the firewall and the right intake is towards the front of the car so the left would be rear and the right would be front? and in this scenario which is the one that has the chain with the two colored links?, and I am clear about the crankshaft mark been at 4 o'clock. Thanks.

When speaking about banks on an engine, "left" and "right" refer to the engine's left and right, not your left and right as you look at it. Consider the way engines used to sit in cars, with the "front" of the engine where the fan and water pump are, and the back of the engine hooked to the transmission. The left side of such an engine would be the side of the engine on the left (driver's) side of the car. As you stand at the front of the car looking at it, the left side of the engine would be at your right, just as your wife's left hand is at your right when you stand looking at her.
Now, turn the engine sideways in a front wheel drive car. The "left" side of the engine is closer to the front of the car. The "front" of the engine faces the right side of the car, but the front of the engine is still where the belts are, and the "back" is still connected to the transmission.
Put the timing mark of the crankshaft sprocket at approximately the four o'clock position (not TDC, you're right about that) and set the camshaft sprockets to the chain links as stated.
Hope that helps.

Wow, I was so wrong about that left and right thing, I never thought about it from the engine location perspective but from my own left and right. Its all clear now after that perfect explanation you gave, and thank you so much for taking your time to clarify all this for me, will work on the timing this weekend and will post again sunday night. thxs.

Ok I started the engine and I got problems..
The engine started right up but I got lifter noise all over and all the lifter are brand new, I will do a flush to the engine add heavy oil and test the oil pressure and go from there.
the timing chain was a pain in ....I had to remove the chain sprockets cams and everything else about 3 times since I was not satisfied and not totally convince I was doing it right,, for beginners when you set the timing and manually turn the crank, the marks never go back to the original setting you had them, so that was confusing,, so I removed the cams for the last time and set the secondary chains and turned clockwise while I had them on my hands and surely after you turn them they never line up right so I turn them counterclockwise and they did align the marks back ok. Its stupid but it convinced me I was not doing it wrong,,,as far as the position of the cams when you are setting the primary timing chain they go only one way since when you bolt the main sprockets to the cam hubs, the bolts just go in one way into the cam hubs so you can not have the cams but in the right position,

the noise is the timing chain has slack until the oil pressure is built up and pushes the guide into position it may take a few min dont worry about lifter noise either unless u had them soaking in tranny oil to fill them they 2 will make noise until pumped up.

Great, I let the engine run for a few minutes and right now its sounds like a swiss watch. Over all I think this engine is very easy to do, once you understand the timing chain setting, it has a lot of room to work, the intake and the fuel injectors are so easy to get to, once you remove the air filter and the intake and the valve covers you have a lot of room to work, the oil pan is very easy to remove also and at the timing chain cover and its components there is also plenty of room.
Thank You all for your advise very much appreciated.

I love stories with happy endings.

The most common fault for a head gasket job not holding up, other than faulty installation, is the re-use of head bolts and not using the proper coolant.

Considering your time, effort and expence not to mention the frustration and stress, (been there) would it not just be better and easier to get a replacement engine from the wreckers? Just a thought. Good luck in your endeavours. BTW, the car looks great. :rolleyes:

If you can successfully build a 2.7 then you can do anything Chrysler has. Good for you.

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