Compression test kit

Found a little oil on one spark plug and in general curious to see the numbers are.

 

I have one. It is a Mac Tools one. Will get pics for you. Problem is, it is, the thing was $150! Big deposit. With that in mind, local parts stores usually have their free loaner, might be cheaper.

 

I've heard of issues with and low quality associated with local part store loaners, I would rather use a more expensive one that is truly accurate in order to get an honest idea of the state of my engine.

 

I have a known good one. We could even test your car in the parking lot on Thursday if you really want to. It's a harbor freight one but it's not one that they offer anymore that was an upgrade over the "cheap" one they sell. I think the company that makes them is still in business, I found something similar on Amazon recently.

 

I bought a Craftsman one and it works great. Even if your numbers seem low, the main thing is consistency across your cylinders. And make sure you reach engine operating temperature first for better results. Do a dry and wet test. Ideally, do a leakdown too.

 

@Redline @Raider thanks for the offers! I am meeting up with John on Thursday and we are going to do it then. Will post results

 

Met with John Yesterday, did the compression test in the parking lot of a local starbucks and it wasn't the best news and slightly confirmed my suspicions about my engine health
1: 180
2: 155
3: 160
4: 185
put everything back together and got a check engine light for a misfire on cylinder one. the cyclinder that had leaked a little oil on the plug which motivated me to do the compression test to begin with. Stretched the ignition coil spring, and changed the spark plug with a spare that john had. the issue persisted.. swapped the coil pack with cylinder two and misfire on cylinder two... bad ignition coil.... what are the odds. upon investigation it was noted that it was the only non-OEM ignition coil. it was after 8 when this happened and all the dealership parts departments were closed. No one near me had a spare. Drove miles home in a thunderstorm with the hazards on and a misfiring cylinder. Borrowed my girls car to go to the dealership this morning, new ignition coil and now the car runs like it used to.

 

Yikes man. I think changing the tune to less aggressive is one thing I would do.

 

^^^^^ This.
Still on stock turbo? Running eth? Estimated power level of your tune? Looks like the engine may be on its way out. Running a milder tune can help stretch its life.
Definitely sounds like rings and/or ringlands in that cylinder with oil on the plug. Maybe PCV? If I were you, the next thing I'd do is a leakdown - it'll tell you a lot more at this point.

 

Still stock turbo, no meth, been running Cobb ots stage 2 93 Oct tune, going to contact stratified for a new tune today, no pcv upgrades, dm pcv plate and occ planned, bumping to front of my to do list. Going to be out of town all next week so my car will be sitting for 8 days but hoping I can have a new tune by the time I get home tonight

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

Cool. Just to clarify - I wasn't asking if you have an upgraded PCV system, but rather if you think your PCV went bad and needs replaced. Sometimes that's associated with a lot more oil going into the intake/into the engine. But if that were the case, I think it'd probably affect all cylinders.

 

is there an easy way for me to check PCV fuctionality besides removing it ? there was a very small amount of oil on the spark plug number 1, Im thinking it is due to a minor leak in the valve cover gasket since I didnt replace it when I did the VVT job last month.

 

I don't think so. Anyone else know?

 

decided to go with @Jason@DizzyTuning for my tuning needs. and I am not too worried about my PCV valve working or not, I just need to get home today and then the car is going to sit until the 23rd, installing DM pcv plate and occ the weekend of the 27/28. @VTMongoose you free that weekend for mod party? I know you got stuff planned.

 

The ground straps on the #2 and 3 plugs were a touch darker in appearance than 1 and 4, but the plugs looked normal and similar otherwise, and there wasn't any visible oil on them. Also brainbot1 told me that he hasn't had any abnormal oil consumption. So the issue could be wear of the rings themselves, or cracked ringlands that aren't bad enough to interfere with the oil control rings, or something else. We need to do a leakdown test on the motor so that we know for certain what the problem is. I have a tester, and an air compressor fortunately. We just need to find time to do it.

@brainbot1 I'm free on the 27th, but not the 28th.

I agree with the other guys. I guess I didn't express my opinion on this subject, but shooting for power with the engine in this state by tuning it is not really a good idea, if only because the fact that you have low compression in those cylinders is going to work very hard against your power gains. The more boost you try to run, the more is going to be lost to blowby, and the less power you'll gain. In the state your motor is in, you could already be down 30 whp or more relative to a healthy motor. It's an exercise in futility that has the potential to accelerate wear on your engine.

 

@VTMongoose thanks for the reply man, lets plan on the 27th! @Jason@DizzyTuning is going to help me out with the tune and I am already starting to think about an engine rebuild. It looks like speed performance and FJ performance are pretty close to me. Are they on this forum at all?

I <3 Nator

 

@fjperformanceinc has been an MSO approved vendor since day 1.

Unfortunately, after seeing what has happened go a local member recently with his car, I would not recommend speedformance. The staff there is just not as good as it once was.

 

Actually I'd say it's the same as it always has been.



You can also look into EBTEC in Georgia @brainbot1 they have built many solid, long lasting engines for the community. I believe their pricing is quite reasonable.

 

Back in the day, sp63, was great. But now no EBTEC has my buddy Chris set up finally on his car, also an EMM Sponsor.

 

EBTEC is where everyone in the southeast is going with now. They have built many MZR motors with zero failures.