Can anyone fitted MHG now will not start

Freelander 05 1.8 3 door
Have just replaced head gasket myself,

Head tested and skimmed
Oil seals changed, values cleaned and re-seated
Had new MHG kit including bolts
Cleaned sump and oil ladder
Cams clean and new oil seal to both cams
Change all drive/cam belts
New water pump
New Spark plugs
New coolant and oil for engine, gear box and both drive boxes,
So just tried to start the car, and all I’m getting is nothing, started motor turns and but no ignition form any of the 4 cylinders.
Have checked timing which I think is correct, spark plugs and fuel pump working fine, engine is turning from pulley bolt by hand fine and from starter motor which is again fine.
Car was working before I started the work and turning over fine, but will the fault of the HG going, does anyone have any clues where to look next and more so how.

Sounds like you did alot of work there, so first thing to check is that you have the locator pin correctly located on each of your cam pulleys. Locator pin on intake mark for intake side , exh mark for exhaust side. That your cams read ex - in - ex - in when lined up and that the groove on the crank pully lines up with that on the cover at the top of it. Then try turning it over by hand to make sure you've got compression and it doesnt just easilly turn over all the way from TDC to TDC.


Although my guess is that since it looks like you've done alot of work and that the head has been off for a while. That if everything yuo've done is correct, its possibly your hydraulic tappets have emptied out and havent refilled, so although the engine is turning and firing and everything, your valves arent opening.

Worth a check imho Seen it a few times when heads have been stripped for skims and the tapped havent been left in a container of oil or left upside down and just drained out.

most likely timing issue, check this thoroughly.

i've done loads of these where they wqon't start after head off and back on again. a drop of oil down the bores to get compression up, if that won't get it going i usually give in and have someone tow me up the road in 2nd or 3rd gear. i've only had this prob with rover 16v engines

Thank you for your advice, and your right I did clean and drain the hydraulic tappets, It’s 7:30 and I’ve just taken the cam’s back of and will be refilling the tappets and rechecking the timing again. Most admit I only started the work due to this forum and getting most of the info from here. So many thanks
Just a quick double check when setting the timing, am I right that the pulley mark is the one that’s set about at 1 a clock on the cam cover? And that the pistons will be half down on all 4 cylinders and that the cam’s will be marked up as ex - in - ex – in.
Will let you know later today about my progress and let’s hope it starts. Must admit it’s been great working on the car than my normal line of work. I can now understand why people spend months working in the rain and cold just for the love if it.

i always put half a teaspoon of oil in each bore before i put the head on, lubricates the rings and gives compression.

Good chance its a timing issue, check this for the correct set up of cams and pegs

Clicky

Well have recheck all again just to make sure and found some faults i.e. timing, now have it firing on 1,2 and 4 but cannot get 3 to work. May be the injector will have a look later tonight.

Or could this still be timing?

also the temp gauge is now showing as half way up like it’s been running for 20 mins even before starting car and then goes direct to red any thoughts

Have you got the gauge plug and ECU plugs muddled up maybe, correct positions shown in the link below -

Click