so i did a compression test...

[Sijray21]

Here's what the cylinder's threw at me:

the first test was about 4 turns, the next one was about 8-10 turns

1 - 215, 220
2 - 210, 220
3 - 160, 190
4 - 225, 230

The third cylinder threw significantly lower than the rest, but what do you think of the numbers? The spark plugs looked clean to me, no discoloration of white or black, but here's why i performed the test.

Other than my previous problem of losing oil, i recently took a cross country trip and i burned 10...yes 10 quarts of oil. (more on this later, i'm planning on starting a thread once i get the pictures organized, and i'm a lazy ass) Could the problem be the valve retainers? The next thing on the agenda is a leak down test.

Some of the specs on the car include: Tuned maintenance, slacking with the later regular maintenance things, using Mobile 1 5w-30 (thinking of switching to something thicker), and there is 144300 (about) miles on the car. Stock everything internally. There is also a black film of crap on the trunk above the exhaust tip.

[.RJ]

Did you hold the loud pedal at 'wide open' while you cranked the motor.... and pull the fuel injection fuse?

[mpg9999]

Did you hold the loud pedal at 'wide open' while you cranked the motor.... and pull the fuel injection fuse?

Yes and yes. Had he not, all of the numbers would be low. Next step is to add oil to the cylinder and see if it raises the compression.

[Sijray21]

Did you hold the loud pedal at 'wide open' while you cranked the motor.... and pull the fuel injection fuse?

yeah

[.RJ]

Possible you have a dinged valve.... or your rings are shot. When you changed the earl last, did it look really thin coming out? (thinking bad rings = fuel dilution)

[mpg9999]

Possible you have a dinged valve.... or your rings are shot. When you changed the earl last, did it look really thin coming out? (thinking bad rings = fuel dilution)

Also consider sending the oil to blackston labs. Thats the best way to see how much fuel is in the oil.

[ScottyB]

i'm tempted to think it's his rings. reason being, even if the compression is low, a dinged valve wouldnt cause the car to loose quarts of oil at a time.

[Evan]

a dinged valve should show a bigger compression drop than just 15%

IMO thats not much to even worry about

[BLINGMW]

yeah, do the "add a drop of oil" thing and test again, tell us how it goes

[Sijray21]

yeah, do the "add a drop of oil" thing and test again, tell us how it goes

just add one drop into the chamber before the test? I've never heard of it before.

[.RJ]

Nah, a capful... like from your earl bottle

[Sijray21]

ok, i did the compression test again, dry and wet

here are the numbers: (i did each test twice with about 7 turns each -- same numbers)

4, 3, 2, 1 ----- Cylinder

230, 220, 210, 210 ---- DRY

285, 285, 285, 255 ---- WET

so i take it since the numbers have a big difference then it's the rings, right?......:hammer:.....aving for rebuild:


first off, i think these are kinda high numbers for a stock b16, but is that 18-23% increase because the rings are going bad? just trying to understand what's going on, does the extra oil help fil the 'gap' between the rings and the cylinder walls - holding compression better?

[Evan]

they will always increase by a large margin when wet.

those numbers are fine, nothing wrong with your engine.

[.RJ]

Well, according to your frame of reference "busted engine" is

[Evan]

Well, according to your frame of reference "busted engine" is

hah, I knew that was coming. but you should work on your engilsh, mr yoda.

[BLINGMW]

yeah, your dry #'s got a lot more even. They look ok now. I don't know what to tell you! Leakdown test time? :lol:

[JackoliciousLegs]

sell it now... use the money towards the gti.

[ViPER1313]

You did the test w/ the engine hot, right?

[Dave]

your car seems to have just been having a bad day :-)

[ViPER1313]

Nah, ask Chris, it just fixed itself - Honda's are known for it 8) .