quote:

ORIGINAL: lhausi2

Well you ask if the car is worth fixing, that all depends on how much you bought it for $2000 and I only got to drive it for a couple weeks before all this happened. and in the end, is a decision you gotta make. Sometimes it good to have it checked out, just to see what you're dealing with.
And secondly yes spraying starter fluid on the air filter itself can and most likely did damage your maf, Compression results: 1st cyclinder can't be checked because the sparkplug is unremovable, 2nd - 0 compression, 3rd - 30 lbs, 4th 150 lbs. Notice most amount of damage on the left, least damage on the right. Because the air intake would have brought the super-flammable ether into the cylinders in that order. Most of it would have burned up on the 1st, with only a little damage on the 4th (I should expect 180-200 lbs) Consistent with the theory that excessive starter fluid caused the damage, it wasn't the timing belt, so what else could have led to these compression results?, but in some unlikely cases doesn't.
And as to how much it'll cost to get the timing belt re-done, all depends on how much the mechanic charges an hour and how good and fast he can do it. I would guesstimate that you should be ready to spend around 150 bucks to get the timing belt re-done.
Also is the CEL (check engine light) on? Car doesn't run for the lights to come on. Can't get the engine running.  If so what codes does it throw out? Cuz that would help diagnosing it a whole lot I know it's a long story, but I've taken great care to be descriptive and specific enough with my details. In order to help diagnose the problem, someone would really need to follow the entire story starting with my first post. Of course you're not obligated to, that's why I have an attorney going through all the details very carefully with me (and she actually found these printed pages extremely helpful). But I think this is a great place to seek advice and I appreciate any insight you all have for me. Thanks a lot guys I mean it., but since you didn't mention it, i doubt it did.
And when he said the teeth are worn out he didn't mean on the timing belt, he meant on the pulleys. When he was manually revving the engine and all of a sudden it died and produced a "whirrrrrr" sound, he concluded that the timing belt had just snapped that we had just "witnessed it on it's last leg", as a result of jumping too many worn teeth on the timing belt itself. Of course, we found out he was completely wrong when we actually took a look at the belt. It looked like new. There was some slack on it, but it didn't feel terribly loose or anything like that. We discovered it's out of time, that the timing marks on the gears are off.
All i can think of is, that it skipped a tooth. I agree, and probably more than just one. It's out of time. My buddies 99 eclipse was off by one tooth and didn't run right at all and would stall out sometimes. I wonder if putting it back in time would drastically change things. Still, the compression results. Even with your buddy's car out of time, I doubt it affected his compression results.
And just to let you know, you prolly meant the starter fluid burnt up the valve SEALS, not the actual valves, that would be kinda weird,lol And in order to do that you'd have to rip the whole head off and the whole turbo, intake and exhaust manifold and everything around it. That's where I'm at right now. I need someone to remove the head and look at the valves. At which point I'm going to look at the damage, take some pictures for evidence, and then I need a certified mechanic to look at it and give me a written statement about whether or not the improper use of starter fluid caused this damage. The first shop I took it to, the mechanic told me, that if the head was removed (for a few hundred bucks of course), he'd be able to tell me if it was starter fluid that caused the damage. He said he'd look for burn marks on the valves, like black marks. He also said that improperly using starter fluid could cause enough internal damage to ruin valves, pistons, and rods because ether is like jet fuel and burns at a very high temperature. Which isn't all that hard but is one of those things that just takes time. I wish I had the knowledge to do it myself. I really do. And the cost for it all depends on the rate your mechanic charges and how good and fast he is. If i were you, and u wanna get an estimate at least. Call up local shops and ask how much it would be to get your valves inspected on your car. And they should be able to give you a rough estimate.
ANd if you have someone check the valves, you might as well not bother having someone redo the timing belt. Because he will put it back on the right way once he's done either fixing the car or done giving you the estimate. Woah, hold up there. Is this true? If I pay someone to just remove the head to inspect the valves, will they re-align the timing marks? Could I seriously expect them to do the timing belt job automatically without getting charged separately for that? Because that would be great. It would save my mom some money. She's paying to get the car fixed, but I'm fighting to get her money back at the same time. The man from autozone should have to pay for this damage.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sebba

Dude seriously, it sounds like you are dealing with some shadey mo-fos That would be correct. I can't be dealing with any more shady people because this is a potential court case. Everything needs to be documented and unfortunately these bastards aren't living up to their certifications. So my uncle and I are watching everyone like hawks. You heard me say that even the people doing the independent diagnosis weren't trustworthy. They told me the timing belt was broken and it had nothing to do with the starter fluid. Turns out, we remove a little two piece plastic cover and the timing belt looks perfect. So he had to eat his words and I literally saw his eyes go wide. I would have a car friend look at it for you. I wish I had a friend with certification, that I could trust. Unfortunately I just moved up here from So Cal so I don't know anyone. I'm about 5 minutes away from OSU in Corvallis, Oregon.

Honestly its almost impossible to tell without actually being there to tell you. I would make a post appealing to anyone in your area, im sure there are a few members on here what would come over and help you out. I'll give that a shot if current efforts to get a mechanic of 40 years from California to fly up here fail. I trust him more than anyone because he's done countless jobs for my family and his prices are unrivaled. He also knows exactly what he's doing. But if I can't get him, of course I would appreciate anybody's help.