Rebuilt Renault Head - now won't idle

[13millspanner]

Vehicle : Renault Clio 1.2 RL with approx 70 K on clock.

History : Timing Belt snapped, and bent 4 valves, so stripped down, replaced ALL valves, ground them in until uniform grey matt ring visible, like book says. Rebuilt using all new gaskets, head bolts, new belt (of course), and did all valve clearance to the book (and double checked), and timing belt. (Inspected pistons, all were fine, nice and tight in their un-damaged bores)

Problem :- When trying to start, starter spins, but doesn’t “fire”, unless I pump gas pedal to the floor 3 or 4 times. Then engine starts. Engine won’t idle, it just stalls. If I keep gas down heavy , (eg 4-5000 rpm , ) engine sounds great, but soon as I take my foot off it just totally dies.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[david and julie]

Not that conversant with renaults.

Are you certain with the timing? Was the belt tight on the non-tensioner section before you released the tensioner? If this wasn't the case the timing would go slightly out when you first turned over the engine.

If you have no luck with that it might be worth checking the inlet manifold gasket in case it got damaged on assembly.


Hope that helps


Good Luck, Dave

 

[keyplayer]

Agree with D + J . If you're sure about the valve timing it sounds like an air leak, manifold or split/disconnected vacuum hoses. Always worth doing a compression test though - I have come across under torqued head bolts in the past due to oil sitting in the threaded holes in the block where the head bolts screw into - these should be blown out with compressed air prior to reassembly. And did you CAREFULLY check the combustion chambers in the head for tiny cracks? And remove ALL of the old head gasket? Comp. test should reveal any problems here.