Hadn't thought of a plugged exhaust. Bot with such a strained idle I don't think covering the exhaust pipe will tell me much.

 

Pulled back timing belt cover and ran a boroscope inside. The belt is intact and dry and I can see no sign of damage. Rotated it one full turn viewing with scope and another with unaided eye. Can't see anything problems.

No time or energy for further disassembly to check timing marks but with results of belt health should I have to?

Reg

 

Went to start engine today and battery is discharged. Looks like I also have a ground which might be the problem.

 

OK, so you did a valve cover gasket and suddenly the car doesn't run properly. Well, is it possible that you are now building too much crankcase pressure? That a hose (PCV, etc.) has been put back in the wrong location? That an inline check valve is being forced closed instead of opening when it should?
I would look for things like that first. Work in reverse and if you have pictures of the engine compartment before the change, study them closely.
These may sound like simple things, but I can tell you that a friend of mine and I chased a no-start situation after a basic tune up one time for 3 days. It turned out to be a faulty capacitor right out of the box. Reinstalled the old one and voilà! Instant start up.

 

Charged battery and trudged on. Started back at basics. Fuel + air + spark + rotation = running engine.

Starting with fuel I found I had no pressure at the rails and could not hear pump running. Fuel regulator relay tested good. Loosened gasoline fitting at rails. Turned key on - no fuel. Pulled pump relay and shorted connections - fuel spray. Looks like the relay is bad?

But while shorting the connections (with fitting tightened) the engine would not start. Sort of makes sense as I had pressure before and it would not start.

I got another relay from the junkyard to use for testing purposes. Better than buying from the dealer. $2.75 vs $27.00.

After doing a dry run on the junkyard's I tested mine. Guess what mine is good. After a "Look at the sky, scratch head" moment I checked the fuse box side connectors and found an open in the ground circuit for the relay. Control circuit not pump circuit.

I don't know where the box wire reaches ground but if it joins others and thus there is a common ground then that may explain a lot. Something broke or vibrated loose.

More to come.

Reg

 

Spark is required for the PCM to allow fuel. The PCM must see a spark signal from the distributor.

 

Where do I test for the spark signal? Mine is a 99 - no distributor.

Reg

 

For starters, yank a plug, or pull the wire off and connect to any plug you can find. Crank the engine and see if you get spark.

 

Got spark. Also got lurch from engine and a puff of smoke from near/below MAF area on next to last start attempt. Nothing on last. The engine just spun. Injectors have power.

Something is preventing the fuel pump from running. PCM?

 

Ok you have spark, got a start attempt. You are in deep do-do without a shop manual. I can suggest you check out the purge solenoid and plumbing, because if that is screwed up, the engine will start up on vapor sucked out of the charcoal canister of the EVAP (pollution control) system, then will fail to run if the purge solenoid or valve are hung up. If you got smoke from around the MAF (abnormal), you have to question timing issues which you still haven't resolved. A thing which will make you think you have a timing problem is also to be considered; are you ABSOLUTELY SURE you've got the spark plug wires and coil pack connectors connected correctly? If those are screwed up you can get exactly the symptoms you described.
Since you did not know how to check for spark, I think you are probably swimming 'way out of your depth and should get on-site help.
What was your reason for opening up the valve cover in the first place?