I have been working on my '08 Avenger 2.4L for over a week now, and cannot seem to figure this one out.

I bought the car for $500 with a snapped intake cam, 185828 miles, and a little deer damage.

I replaced the head and all associated gaskets, both cam sensors, both cam solenoids, crank sensor, and map sensor. Verified the timing and compression tested all cylinders.

The only code the car has now is P0172, Bank 1 System too rich.

The car will not start without me pressing the accelerator, and will not idle at all unless I introduce a vacuum leak to account for the excess fuel. I have verified proper operation of the injectors, but without a schrader valve I cannot check fuel pressure.

I have searched this forum as well as others, and cannot come up with a solution.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Just for the sake of it I replaced the Upstream O2 sensor last night, and no change.

This morning pulled the cam cover again, re-checked the timing, and valve operation.. All still appears in good shape.

After that I did another compression test, and the readings are 1)210 2)0 3)215 4)225.

Somewhere in the midst of all this I lost compression in cylinder #2.

This would definitely explain the P0172 code if everything from #2 was just pumping into the exhaust as well as all the other issues.

Starting over at square one. Only this time I'm doing a full rebuild.