SL1 SOHC - Post-Head Gasket Replacement Startup Issues

[atrain0007]

I just (sorta)finished doing my first Head Gasket job on a car less than 40 years old. I followed the Haynes Repair Manual as closely as humanly possible but I have had issues trying the initial startup.
Mainly, I cant get the car to start right. The car either:
- stammers a little and lets out a backfire OR
- fires up and jumps to 4000 RPM and sits there pulsing, pulsing, pulsing (it sounds mechanically good, its just racing).

Did I screw up the timing when I put the chain back on? Is there some sort of adjustment I can do from the outside of the engine? I didnt think so but at the end of the Head Installation section, Haynes Repair manual refers you to chapter 5 for timing (and there isnt anything in chapter 5 about timing).

Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

A

[bobfather99]

Time to do a quick check of the easy stuff, before you look at a timing mistake.

All plugs/wires on tight and in the right spot??
Loose vacuum connections??
Clean coil terminals??
Check connections at Fuel injectors??

Id retrace your steps, just to make sure you didnt goof up something small.
Id hate for you to tear into it, only to find out it was something else.

[Squareback]

First things first, why did you replace the head gasket?? Fairly rare for a SOHC car to blow a head gasket. Usually the head cracks.

Regardless, double check and mae sure you have the big vacuum line going from the back of the intake to brake booster hooked up at both ends. That's an enormous vacuum leak that will cause your RPM's to shoot through the roof when you start it.

[atrain0007]

Originally Posted by Squareback

First things first, why did you replace the head gasket?? Fairly rare for a SOHC car to blow a head gasket. Usually the head cracks.

Regardless, double check and mae sure you have the big vacuum line going from the back of the intake to brake booster hooked up at both ends. That's an enormous vacuum leak that will cause your RPM's to shoot through the roof when you start it.

The reason for replacing the head gasket: pretty good oil leak (with some associated coolant loss) that was diagnosed by the local saturn dealer. I was skeptical at first but they said they are seeing a lot of it. On inspection of the gasket, it seemed like some oil was slipping out of the passenger rear side of the block.

My manual doesnt give me any good diagrams of the vacuum system, the only vacuum line that comes to mind is the one that plugs in on top of the throttle body. It breaks off there to something on the fuel injector rail. It plugged into the injector rail, and its (now) plugged into something under the intake and eventually back to the front of the car.The RPMs are still crazy high, did I miss another vacuum line?

[ssicarman]

Brake booster vacuum line. It is on the passenger side of the intake manifold by the power steering pump. The fitting that is goes on points down. Easy enough to miss putting on if the hose has fallen down. Big enough to run the RPM up to the rev limiter.

[madpogue]

There's also the vacuum line to the PCV valve. The VECI label under the hood shows all the vacuum lines. But that's not your only potential vacuum leak source. What year is the car? Did you keep the manifolds on the head for the repair? From your descriptions, it sounds like a '95 or later MPFI car, in which case, a leaking intake manifold gasket will leak vacuum.

(The "pulsing", BTW, is the engine "bouncing" off the 4000-ish RPM rev limiter.)

What procedure did you use to set the valve timing?