Hey folks, I'm posting this on behalf of my father who can't get a confirmation registration E-Mail, so here goes.

He owns a TS Magna V6 which he just replaced the valve stem seals on. He carefully checked the timing of the motor before reassembly and is quite happy with that part of the job. At the same time my brother in law cleaned the fuel injectors by soaking them in metho overnight (a common ghetto cleaning process) and sprayed carbie cleaner through them by using the plugs off a spare wiring harness and a 9 volt battery.

Anyway after reassembly the car has absolutely no power at all. It apparently idles fine but just won't pull. They're about to drop $250 on having the injectors professionally cleaned but I don't think that's the problem. Anyway, if you have any "you idiot, you didn't do XXX" advice, let me hear it so I can pass it on. $250 on a car that's worth $500 seems a waste if they're wrong about the injectors.

I should mention there was no noise from the motor after reassmbly so they're confident about the cam timing. However I wouldn't take that as gospel and would like to know if being 1-tooth off on the cam is possible without damaging the motor and it not being obvious you got it wrong.

I did a heads off, new valve stem seal replacement on a TS V6 last year (- err, 2010 isn't "last year", anymore, is it? lol)

Check the obvious things, like MAF plugged in, spark timing set correctly (with timing light, advance cut activated), plug leads going to the right plugs. If nothing there, check the cam belt timing again. It's so easy to get that wrong, I had to do mine three times to get it right - set it up, crank the engine manually 2 revolutions, OOPS! Still not right - that sort of thing. No, one tooth off won't pretzel the valves. And I don't think it's the injectors, but I didn't touch mine.

Are all the vacume hoses connected up again / made the right connections.

What is the visual condition of the hoses like - if one / all look brittle and feel it, might have broken causing a vacume leak.

just a silly question realy

OK I've had dad do a fuel pressure test and the idle fuel pressure is NOT dropping when he connects the vacuum hose to the regulator.

Ergo I think they have a serious vacuum leak and I've asked him to go looking for it. Any suggestions on common places people tend to stuff up the hose reconnection?

Wouldnt that suggest faulty regulator rather than vacuum leak?

OK folks problem has been diagnosed. Dad chucked in the towel because he went and bought new HT leads and then the car wouldn't start. Malcolm has the car now.

So, basically he HAS bent a valve. When they reassembled it the first time after the valve stem work, apparently my brother in law had the throttle body jammed wide open and the motor started and redlined. Cold. With a not-yet-tensioned timing belt, and lifters which were not pumped up.
Dad did tell me he did a compression test but he didnt test the rear bank because it was hard to get to and I assume by that stage he was mentally knackered.

Malcolm did a compression test and also chucked a little camera through the spark plug hole and could see the impact mark on the #3 piston. So, epic fail on the part of my bro here.

Also turns out the new HT leads were a dud - particularly the one that goes from the coil to the dizzy. Dad spent the money on the valve steam seals, $260 on an injector clean (a waste, but I did tell them that before they did it), whatever it cost for the HT leads and now about $1,000 for the motor repair. This is way more than the car is worth, but what can you do when you're in a hole except keep digging eh?