I did check the timing and I'm pretty sure its right, the marks on the
belt are lined up in the right place at least. Although I will look at
it in a little more detail when I try again tomorrow.

Could a blown gasket cause this backfiring through the throttle body in
any way?

Oh, forgot to say, there was also oil on the spark plug threads when I
removed them after trying to start it.

Cheers,
Dave


Mike Romain wrote:
> If you aren't getting the timing correct you can have the symptoms you
> are describing. If the valves aren't closing at the right times you
> will have little or no compression and it will backfire out the throttle
> body.
>
> The oil drip can happen when you are removing the head and doesn't
> always mean a blown gasket.
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's