Chrysler Repair: 02 pt cruiser compression problem

Question
I bought car at auction. Replaced timing belt and rings. As well as accessories and idler and tensioner. The car will run but detects misfire. It will even out with throttle. However I did a compression test and found that the middle two cylinders are almost zero with compression. Is it possible that I have timing bad or bad valves? I did wet test and values did not come up. When head gasket was put on everything looked great as far as valves are concerned

Answer
Hi Jeff,
There are 3 possible engines for the car, but all have 4 valves per cylinder and do interfere if not properly in synch with the crankshaft.
I wonder about the validity of your compression test because if 2 of the 4 cylinders have no compression I would believe the engine would run quite poorly if at all. There is the need for a 'special tool' for the compression test (the # is 8116 in the Chrysler brand, according to the manual) so are you sure the tester was properly installed? There is also a test for combustion pressure leakage described in the manual.
I am not sure what you mean by the "wet test" for the valves.
Do you have the procedure showing the timing belt installation? If not I can copy that from a CD and attach the pages to an email. Tell me the engine size you have, and when you tell me your email address don't use the @ symbol, instead use "at" or the address will be automatically erased.
Roland