What would cause a 22r motor to have no compression after begging rebuilt?

Answer 1

There are several possible answers, I will try to list as many as I can think of.

The most likely culprit, if you rebuilt your engine correctly (surfaced cylinder walls correctly, properly installed rings, valve seats, valve seals, gaskets, etc.), is that your engine timing is off.

How you can verify this:

1) Put your number one cylinder at Top Dead Center. Top Dead Center is when the number one cylinder is at the top of its stroke, on the compression stroke. To achieve this, manually advance your engine in a clockwise direction from the 19mm bolt on the front of the harmonic balancer, until the timing notch on the rear ring of the harmonic balancer is at the 12:00 position. If you pull your spark plug on the number one cylinder (the one closest to the front of the vehicle), and gently insert something into the spark plug hole, you should be able to feel that the piston is at the top of its stroke.

2) Pull your valve cover. You should be able to see a small mark on the face of your camshaft timing sprocket, which will line up with the key on the cam. This mark should also be at the 12:00 position, and lined up with a arrow shaped mark on the head behind. Pic: http://www.4x4wire.com/Toyota/maintenance/timingchain/image007.jpg

You should also note the location of the cam lobes at this point. All the intake valves are located on the left side of the head, while the exhaust valves are located on the right. The two lifters in the front of the head, those for your #1 cylinder, should both be closed at this point, with the first two cam lobes pointed in a roughly downward position. The next valve that opens should be the exhaust valve.

3) If you are drastically different from this, this is a good time to start praying. 22r motors are interference motors, meaning that the valves and pistons occupy the same space at different times (in depth explanation of interference motors here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference_Engines). If your engine timing is far off, you may have bent or damaged your valves as a result of collision due to improper timing. If this is the case, it is time to pull the head, get a valve job, and re-assemble, being very careful of engine timing.

Other (less likely) causes for compression loss:

Cracked Cylinder Sleeves

Cracked Head

Blown Head Gasket

Blown Piston Rings

Broken Timing Chain

Bad Valve Seals

Bad Valve Seats

Cracked, Bent or Broken Cam

In the case of cracked head, cracked sleeves, or a blown head gasket, you would most likely find water in your engine oil. A broken or badly bent cam would become apparent while watching the cam as you manually advance the motor via a socket on the harmonic balancer.

Some good web resources:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/timingchain/

http://www.yotatech.com/f2/question-22re-interference-engine-15654/

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/EngineMods/TimingChain.shtml

Good luck!