Engine Timing Issues

[StormShepherd]

Alright, story time everyone. I'm a dealership technician, happen to be at a Ford dealer - but I prefer Chevrolets. So I took on a 2010 Aveo for a friend. It needed a head gasket. I did the repair, got the timing tool for it, too. Recommended he get a timing belt, but that didn't happen. The timing belt failed and I can only surmise how, but it has a big rip halfway through it, like it jumped up on the lip on the intake phaser. I bought a new belt for the guy since he didn't have the money at the moment.

Set the engine back to TDC Cylinder 1, with the old belt, to see where timing was at, and found both cams 180 degrees off. Of course, I'm thinking to myself that the valves have failed at this point. But I put the timing back and installed the new belt, and amazingly, she runs. Terribly at idle mind you, and it puts out a P0300, and misses. All 4 cylinders put out misfire, so it seems to be random. When I give it some gas, the engine runs very smooth, can't feel the miss. I figured that bad valves would be felt throughout. It's not even loud at high RPM, either.

Monitored the CMP Adjust, and noticed Exhaust at idle once it's leveled out is 0, while the intake is set at 5 - the PCM says the desired is 5, though. This seems off to me, in Ford world you want both at 0 at idle. I'm still not convinced that the engine isn't screwed, so I took 1 spark plug, and installed it one cylinder at a time to feel for the compression stroke while turning the crank, and each one seems to give that really hard turn of the ratchet. At this point, should I go ahead and say it needs an intake phaser, or should we bite the bullet and take the head off again?

[avguy]

Leak down test?

[StormShepherd]

Leak down test?

I would if I had access to shop air, I took on the project in my own garage.

[avguy]

Any friends own a portable compressor? Personally I'd want a solid confirmation before getting into that much work. But OTOH I'm just a shade tree DIYer, so you'll work a good deal faster than I would

[StormShepherd]

I performed a compression check, and verified that the valves were not damaged in the process. I'm really leaning towards a cam phaser issue now.

[avguy]

Good for you to know there's been no valve damage. I can't offer any opinion on what you wrote, because our Aveos are first gens, which don't make use of VVT as the second gen does. And to the best of my recollection, I've also never seen anything posted on that subject on this forum either. Best of luck tracking down this problem!