Help...Really low compresion

[95gst16g]

Okay here is the deal,I bought Delta 272's they are regrinds.The timing was off turned it over bent the valves.Anyway I bought a factory rebuilt head.I put the 272's in it along with the shims for the lifter bores.I go outside today and get bored so I compression test it.I get 103,125,103,103 or something close to that.I was just wondering wouldnt my car be smoking like hell if it really was that low?It runs pretty good I didnt even think it would run with the compression this low.Could it be the lifter bore shims arent thick enough or maybe my stock lifters are just bad?They dont tick or anything could they still be bad?What do you think is going on?
Thanks for any help.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

It means the cylinder has a leak and is not holding pressure when the piston is pushed up into that cylinder.

Possible causes:
Broken/worn piston ring(s)
Hole or crack in piston
Cracked head or block
Broken head gasket
Extremely worn or scored cylinder wall
Stripped park plug threads (unlikely)
Valve or valve seat problem( possibly something to do with your re-grinds, maybe with the shipping, ETC...)

It could be one of the problems above, Or a few.. Best thing to do is start tearing it down to find the problem. Have you checked to make sure your compression tester is properly working?

 

[BoredDSM]

Before I do anything else I would make sure you are doing the compression test correctly. Make sure the motor is warmed up and that when cranking the motor you open the throttle all the way.

 

[95gst16g]

It means the cylinder has a leak and is not holding pressure when the piston is pushed up into that cylinder.

Possible causes:
Broken/worn piston ring(s)
Hole or crack in piston
Cracked head or block
Broken head gasket
Extremely worn or scored cylinder wall
Stripped park plug threads (unlikely)
Valve or valve seat problem( possibly something to do with your re-grinds, maybe with the shipping, ETC...)

It could be one of the problems above, Or a few.. Best thing to do is start tearing it down to find the problem. Have you checked to make sure your compression tester is properly working?

Yeah,The cylinder walls looked flawless when I had the head off like 1000miles ago.All the cylinders were around the same psi so I doubt it is a hole/crack.The head is new I am pretty sure I dont have a cracked block.I am kind of wondering if the people who rebuilt the head did it right.It dont overheat/burn coolant.I really think it has something to do with the reground cams/shims.But I am not completly sure.Could it be something related to the lifter bore shims maybe being too thin/thick?I did let the car warm up and floored it when I cranked her over.I was also thinking the tester could be the culprit.I will go out and test it on the grannys whip.A toyota camry with super low miles.I will just see what kind of reading that gets me.Thanks so far.

UPDATE......
Okay it's 33 degrees outside and I tried the tester on a GOOD car and it worked perfect.I gave my car another try just for shits I get 125 psi dead across.This time I made sure the car was warm as hell.I added a cap of oil to each cylinder and it made them all go up by 20psi.I really think that the majority of my problem is from something to do with the head.I swear it has something to do with the lifters/shims they gave me for the bores.I think when I feel more ambitious I will take the shims out of one cylinder and try it,then I will put a little thicker shims in and see what that will do.If I have flat lifters how would I know?Does anyone else think it is something with the lifters?I know that my rings arent perfect but I really dont think thats the only problem.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

Your valves may not be seating/closing all the way on each stroke due to the lifters being shimmed ''too much''? Just trying to give some ideas/possibilities.

 

[BogusSVO]

quick check the valve seats with the head still in the car, shoot compressed air about 80 psi,in thu the park plug hole , have the cylinder on the power stroke, then lisen at the exhaust tip, and open the TB and listen for hissing.

If you hear hissing from the intake or exhaust, loosen/remove the cam caps, so you know the valve is fully closed, and repeat the test, if it goes away, then you know you have a valvetrain issue. such as HLA shimmed to much or pumped up to much, or the valve tip height is too tall.

depending on how they reground the cams, you may have issues. also depends on what equipment was used to cut the valve seats and/or grind the valve face. you could be having sealing issues.

with a cap full of oil added to the 2nd compression test and the results increasing, It dose sound like a sealing issues, so thats rings or valves.

 

[95gst16g]

Your valves may not be seating/closing all the way on each stroke due to the lifters being shimmed ''too much''? Just trying to give some ideas/possibilities.

Yeah this was my thoughts too.I think i will just take the shims out of all the valves on one cylinder and check and see what happens to my compression for that cylinder.The shims were paper thin so I wouldnt really think that is it but who knows it's worth a shot.Thank you guys for the replies so far.

I am really thinking it has to do with the lifter shims because the low compression is 100% consistant across the board.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

You gained 20psi from adding oil to the cylinder. Hence, the rings are worn.

 

[95gst16g]

You gained 20psi from adding oil to the cylinder. Hence, the rings are worn.

Yeah,I know that but I was just wondering if it could be something caused by other stuff too.I just want the easy way out.I really just dont feel like rebuilding a 7 bolt and dont have the money for a 6 bolt.If I could get someone to sell me a 6bolt really cheap I would be on it.The car has me BROKE!Just all of a sudden things started to go wrong.just latley,ISC,head,timing things,inner tierods,outter tierods,alignment,tires,headgasket,arp's,ecu repair,I am pretty sure there is more just cant remember.Thats just in the last couple months.Try doing all that and more making a whoping 8.75 an hour part time job....IHATEMYLIFE!

 

[1993eclipseGS]

You should have messaged me on myspace, I would have saved you ALOT of money.

 

[95gst16g]

You should have messaged me on myspace, I would have saved you ALOT of money.

What are you talkin about man?My car runs and all I just need me a cheap ass 6bolt I have no idea how to buil a motor but I guess I will have to learn....I am poor,thanks car.It just has low compression.I am just mad because I want a strong motor.OOOOO I know who you are now...haha I was like wtf is this guy talking about.

Specs on those motors please.Like piston/rods.Thank you Then I will end up buying a 6 bolt and say screw this FWD and then buy a GSX or swap mine over.A little off topic how hard is a AWD swap?

 

[1993eclipseGS]

I'm sorry but you said your car made you broke. I said if you contacted me via myspace (you are on my myspace), I could have given you all the sensors and small misc parts so you did not hafto buy them as I have over a dozen of every sensor etc at the garage.

What are you talkin about man?My car runs and all I just need me a cheap ass 6bolt I have no idea how to buil a motor but I guess I will have to learn....I am poor,thanks car.It just has low compression.I am just mad because I want a strong motor.OOOOO I know who you are now...haha I was like wtf is? this guy talking about.

 

[95gst16g]

Ohhh haha I get it now.Thank you for being a nice guy!Well a would be nice guy. Yeah I dont really want to deal with all these problems latley.I have just been driving it and dealing with the stupid crap.I will just wait until it's immobile or I save up some money,whatever comes first.I am guessing immobile will come first.But when I get some money I will hit you up on the space.Thanks alot.

 

[toofast82]

As said, if you add oil and compression goes up 20psi across the board, there is most likely worn piston rings.
If you say its not smoking or running bad, just ride it out until you get some money saved.
There's has been some pretty impressive 1/4 times put out on tired engines by members on here too!

 

[95gst16g]

As said, if you add oil and compression goes up 20psi across the board, there is most likely worn piston rings.
If you say its not smoking or running bad, just ride it out until you get some money saved.
There's has been some pretty impressive 1/4 times put out on tired engines by members on here too!

Yeah that is the plan.The car actually feels good.Besides it being tuned terrible right now due to new cams/low boost/timing pulled to 9 degrees so I can run 22psi(on the old setup),stock fuel map.The car is tuned crappier then it was from the factory right now.I have a leak in the exhaust somewhere I am to lazy to fix so my wideband wont read right.haha I think I will just tune it again and see how it will run.The dyno sheet I have is just from this last summer with stock cams and exhaust and I have never done a compression test on it until now so maybe it has always been pretty low.I doubt all of the rings would wear a ton in only 4 months.Guess I will see what happens.I am also going to pull the shims out of the lifter bores and recheck compression I kind of think the shims might be holding the valves open just a hair.

 

[DSMtsi23]

Hey man, just irebuilt me head and installed my 264/272 reground cams and didnt use the shims. Havent had any issues. But i also used new 3g lifters which i believe are slighty taller than stock. Are you still using the stick lifters

 

[95gst16g]

Hey man, just irebuilt me head and installed my 264/272 reground cams and didnt use the shims. Havent had any issues. But i also used new 3g lifters which i believe are slighty taller than stock. Are you still using the stick lifters

Yeah I still have stock lifters.I am just going to take the shims out and give it a try.Thanks

 

[MY1GDSM]

You should come into town and let me take a look at it,
I'm realy wondering What The Fu k is going on with it...

if you realy want to do a AWD swap

Read through this

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-drivetrain/353458-2g-dsm-awd-conversion.html

 

[SonySlave]

I know this seems like a lot of work just to test, but try putting a different set of cams in the car and re-trying your compression test. From my personal experience and the experience of my friends here in the NW, the Deltas have always shown odd compression numbers and have never worked well.

With my car, I had 170psi compression across the board and perfect 800rpm idle with my authentic HKS 264s. I then upgraded turbos and got the Delta 280 regrinds due to Delta being local to me. My car instantly stopped idling well. I could barely get an 1100rpm idle to work. I checked compression, 100 across the board. WTF I tried oil, it raised it a bit, 25 or so psi, but still was bad. So I put the HKS 264s back in and voila! 170psi across again and idle was perfect.

Even if you only have a set of stock cams laying around, try them! I'd put money on you getting much better results and not wasting a shit ton of money rebuilding the entire motor.

 

[95gst16g]

You should come into town and let me take a look at it,
I'm realy wondering What The Fu k is going on with it...

if you realy want to do a AWD swap

Read through this

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-drivetrain/353458-2g-dsm-awd-conversion.html

You and me both....haha Damn car.I have to work pretty much the rest of this week I only get monday off or I would be out working on it right now.I will give you a call or something pretty soon.Thanks man.

 

[MY1GDSM]

You and me both....haha Damn car.I have to work pretty much the rest of this week I only get monday off or I would be out working on it right now.I will give you a call or something pretty soon.Thanks man.

Just let me know when and I'll give ya a hand with it

 

[95gst16g]

Just let me know when and I'll give ya a hand with it

Thanks a lot I will get ahold of you if I need anything I am going to mess with the shims first because thats easy stuff then if it still dont do anything I will give you a call.Oh and I got a new mid timing cover and solid side motor mount.I figure if we have to ever check the timing because of the balance belt I could just put those on instead of the old crappy broken one.

I know this seems like a lot of work just to test, but try putting a different set of cams in the car and re-trying your compression test. From my personal experience and the experience of my friends here in the NW, the Deltas have always shown odd compression numbers and have never worked well.

With my car, I had 170psi compression across the board and perfect 800rpm idle with my authentic HKS 264s. I then upgraded turbos and got the Delta 280 regrinds due to Delta being local to me. My car instantly stopped idling well. I could barely get an 1100rpm idle to work. I checked compression, 100 across the board. WTF I tried oil, it raised it a bit, 25 or so psi, but still was bad. So I put the HKS 264s back in and voila! 170psi across again and idle was perfect.

Even if you only have a set of stock cams laying around, try them! I'd put money on you getting much better results and not wasting a shit ton of money rebuilding the entire motor.

Thats some good info.I thought I would just give the cams a try since they are also pretty close and I thought shit 200 bucks I might as well.I sent my stock cams to them for a core.My car idles nice it sounds pretty good and pulls really hard in the upper rpms with these cams.I wish some more people that run delta cams would chime in and tell me what their compression test results are....Now I am curious......I really was pretty set on buying some FP2's but the price of the deltas was good and a lot of people on here ran them and said that they liked them.Also just wondering did you happen to use the shims?