hey_obie

I went to check the timing and it is out of wack. I found the timing mark on the crank pulley and turned it to 0 (zero) on the timing marks on the engine. When I looked at the cam sprocket, the pin hole on the sprocket is supposed to be at 12 o'clock. Well it was between 1 and 2 o'clock. And the rotor on the distributor was not at the #1 wire like it should be. It looks like the timing chain is off about 4 teeth. Would this explain why I have no compression?

Thanks Indy. I am trying to figure out what is wrong with it. I did a compression test on the cylinders yesterday and got zero pressure. I must be doing something wrong. All 4 cylinders have no pressure. My pressure tester is good. I forced air into the tester with my compressor and it responded and held. I have only done a compression test a couple of times and it was always on a working engine. This engine does not run. I pulled all the plugs to make it easy on the starter and battery. I crank the engine for 10 seconds and nothing shows up. I am going to crank it for a longer period of time, but I think 10 seconds was long enough. I don't know what happens to compression if the timing chain has jumped. Looking at that angle today. The engine just doesn't sound right when I crank it. I had my buddy crank the engine while I blocked the spark plug hole with my finger. Felt no air. I thought it should push my finger off, but nothing. I dropped the oil pan thinking that something could be wrong on the bottom. It all looked fine to me. So today, I'll try to figure out if the timing chain jumped. Any guidance appreciated. I have replaced a head on my quest and I think that is where I am headed (no pun intended). But I hate to pull it if I can not prove what the problem is. Thanks

I have a buddy's 88 manual in my garage. Used to run good and it started over heating because it was losing radiator fluid. Then it would not even start (which is a different problem). So I pulled it into my garage to take a look at it and find reason for the loss of radiator fluid. I drained the oil and it was very dark. I was looking for water and didn't see any. I checked in the intercooler and it was dry. The plugs looked good to me. I am not an expert, but the plugs were all the same and looked clean with a whitish/grey tint on them. So I then I did a radiator leak down test. Pumped it up to 13PSI and guess what happened. NOTHING. It stayed on 13PSI for an hour. Are there things that will eat radiator fluid only when the car is running? Heating system, turbo, head cracks expanding when car gets warm? I noticed the floor boards under the passenger side near the door are rusted pretty badly. Maybe it cold be heater related, but I would think that would show up in a leak down test. Any thoughts appreciated

Thank you metric-man.

ucw, I guess that one is in the manual. I'll check. Thanks

It could be going into the brake booster (the big ugly black thing) that the master cylinder is attached to if the new master cylinder is bad. Check under the carpet on the inside under the brake pedal. Believe it or not, I had brake fluid coming through the brake booster, into the car.

I have two quests and have worked on them for 7-8 years. Never noticed the compressor was kicking in. I always thought it was the radiator sensors turning the fans on to cool the engine. Thank you Indiana for the explanation. Glad it is all normal. Will sleep like a baby tonight.

The only real problem with it is that I don't want to have the compressor kick in when I am racing a Mustang or Porsche, .

My account works, but the link you supplied does not exist anymore. The website is gutted

The defrost light is on until the car warms up (as it should). I didn't know the a/c went on automatically under defrost. Anyway, the A/C compressor still kicks in turning the fans on even though the defrost light is off. The fans run for a very short time. About 10 seconds and then shuts off for a couple minutes. Strange. Nothing worth losing sleep over, but I don't think it is right. Something is making it kick on.

It was time to replace the belts on my 89. I fired up the engine to watch things work and noticed the fans kicked on. It was 40 degrees out and I didn't think the engine was that warm. They kicked off after a minute or so. A minute or two later, they kicked on again and I noticed that the A/C compressor was kicking in. I had the cabin temperature set to 77 on Auto. The engine is not hot enough to call for the fans. For some reason, the system is calling for A/C. Any thoughts? I think the cabin sensor maybe the culprit because if I have it set to 77, the cabin temperature doesn't get there. Anyone had this problem? Thanks

It looks to me like you need to connect the two brake lines together that go to the ABS contraption. I think the instructions I previously saw, was a little more elegant. They were cutting the lines out so they don't go across the entire firewall. You also have to block the vacuum line. Disconnect the electric connector and hope there are no problems. What looks a little involved is figuring out what has to be removed to get that contraption out of the car.

I can not find a thread for removing the ABS. It was a popular mod and have seen it before, but can not find on a search and I looked in FAQ's and mods and other places . I remember a great thread at starquest.i-x.net, but that site looks gutted to me. It used to have some great step by step mods with pictures but it seems like a lot is missing of gone Thanks Obie

I got you Indiana. Will do the flush. Thanks Thanks KTD for the details on bleeding. I still have the abs unit. I guess you are taking me to the 'Remove the ABS project' which I have always wanted to do, but never did.

Perfect. I was on Rockauto looking at the rebuild kit just before I read your post and was leaning that way. That is what I'll do. Is it necessary to bleed the brakes if I remove all the air from the master cylinder before I connect everything up? Thanks again?

I am losing break fluid between the master cylinder and the brake booster. I am trying to figure out if the fluid leak is a faulty master cylinder or the brake booster. I have no experience with brake boosters, but I do not think they carry any fluid. They are vacuum devices. So is it safe to say that if there is a brake fluid leak between the master cylinder and the booster, the back of the master cylinder is leaking? Thanks Obie

I went and got the felpro head gaskets. Check both heads very carefully and they look good. Cleaned the valves and replace the valve stem seals. Replaced the orings on the water pump tube, cleaned the tube first. The heads are back on and torqued to 85 flbs. Replaced the orings on the distributor and have the timing belt back on. Now I just have to put the whole car back together. Lot of gaskets left to replace, mostly on the exhaust To be continued Thanks for everyone's help

Killtodie, This thread started talking about a Chrysler Lebaron head gasket. The water pump on the Lebaron is an ungodly job. To get to the water pump, you are dealing with a sideways mounted engine. You must unbolt the engine from the car, unbolt the AC compressor and remove the bracket (not easy), remove the serpantine belt, remove the engine plate that bolts to the engine mount, remove the belt tensioner,remove all timing belt covers and then the timing belt and then you can remove the water pump. It was a bout a 5 hour job for me to get there when I did it about 4 years ago. I just had to do it again to get the heads off. If the Conquest had the water pump behind the timing chain, that would be a lot easier to replace than it is on the Lebaron. Obie

Craig87, Obviously, you are familiar with this engine. What a job to change the water pump. Who the hell designed this one. You say there are two O rings? So I guess I have to remove the water pump to get to the first O ring and then remove the long pipe to get to the second O ring. Does that sound right? Thanks, Obie

I am working on my daughters V6 1994 Lebaron (no jokes please). The car is eating water so I am replacing both head gaskets. I know if time and money are not an issue, you send the head out to get it milled to remove any warping. I am running on a tight time frame and would prefer not to send the heads out and save the time and money. I have cleaned both head surfaces and tried to see if I can identify any warping. I took my best carpenter level and ran it across the heads looking for warping. I ran a light behind the level looking for light to shine through. No light ever shone on the flat spots. So to me, the head looked perfectly flat. Is it not this simple? Obie

I got my CV Boots at Rockauto. Look up the car and then click on DRIVETRAIN. There is a bunch in the $10 area.

Harbor Freight has crowfoot wrenches that are very affordable (about $12) for this one time project. http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=crow&Submit=Go You will need them to get the lines off of the steering box. It is not possible without these wrenches. It is a job that requires patience and time. Just go one bolt and twist at a time. If you are in a hurry, don't even try because you will get frustrated. Obie

It works for me when I try it. The ebay item number is 280425405888

I put the seats on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280425405888#ht_500wt_1182

I have two 87 black leather seats that I can part with that are way better than that for $100 if you are in the area