Chevrolet Repair: 1993 Chev Lumina, new heads, wont start, chev lumina, oil dipstick

Question
Hi mark,

I have a problem. I am an ASE certified tech, but havent repaired cars for a living for about 18 years.  I recently did a side job for my neighbor, putting reman heads on a 1993 Lumina, 3.1 v-6. The car came to me with the old heads off, I was told it had a stripped spark plug hole but otherwise had been running fine.

In putting it together i discovered that the person that pulled it apart (not my neighbor) had broken the aluminum pipe nipple for the lower radiator hose, and the oil dipstick was snapped off in the tube.  Well now we have to change the timing cover and fish out the broken dipstick.  And my neighbor being the guy he is knew the proper thing to do while we were in there is replace the timing chain. (he also had given me new plugs and wires)  Pretty straight forward, the engine ran fine before, rolled it over slow till the arrows on the gears lined up and changed them.

Everything else went back together without incident.  All assembled, filled with coolant, tried to start it. Cranked fine, but nothing.  Did a backyard fuel test at the rail, got a 6-8" shot of fuel in the air.  We have fuel.  Tried it again, started to fire, but still wont start.  Tried a little carb spray in the throttle body to see if additional fuel was the trick.  No go. It fires and fires and fires,  backfires and sneezes but will not start.   I triple checked the plug wire firing order per the sticker on the radiator support and coil packs, its right.  And because of the back firing I even questioned whether i got the timing chain off a tooth and pulled the front cover back off, but it was dead on.

Even pulled the valve covers back off to check the the push rods as I found out the hard way there are 2 length push rods for the intake and exhaust, but they were right also. 1 question would be, I noted the rocker studs have a shoulder on them, and I snugged the rocker nuts til they stopped, which left a few threads sticking through the nut. Should I have set these like any other small block? zero tolerance plus 1/4 turn?

Well thats where I am at, I dont have any ECM diagnostic equipment, but I do have a DVOM. Any idea's I can try or look for?   Crank sensor? Module?   Doesnt make sense it wont start as it was running fine, unless the "mechanic" that tore it apart, breaking things along the way broke something else that I didnt see.

I look forward to your input,  my neighbor isnt in a huge rush for the car, it is there winter beater and have something to drive til its fixed.

Thanks..

Jay

Answer
Hi Jay, Well you have the push rods in the correct position and the timing gears are lined up. Some times the lifters will hold the valves open and make it hard to start. I would try cranking the engine while you have your foot on the gas pedal. Sometimes you need to help the engine get going when the lifters are not bleeding off. Crank it while trying to get it to run let it was flooded, pushing on and off the gas.

Hope this helps

Mark