Potential New Car - Compression Test Results

[dirty32]

I am looking at a '91 Talon TSI AWD that has high miles, 15x,xxx, but the body is nearly perfect. The brakes, suspension, electrical, turbo, clutch and transmission are all in good shape or new.

I ran a compression test and got the following:

142, 142, 137, 146

I know this is somewhat low overall but for a car with high miles to be that high and have them be close to each other I figure that it might be worth picking up.

My question is that are the first two cylinders (142, 142) when I pulled the plugs they were fouled heavily with oil on the base and electrode while the second two were not fouled but slightly white on electrode.

The previous owner stated that the car had previously burned oil but he replaced the PVC valve and the problem was fixed.

Any experiance with simliar situations to this car would help. His asking price is high so if you want to throw out your opinion of a reasonable price for the car then feel free.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[klipschaudio]

Dipstick popping out - happens due to crankcase pressure pushing the dipstick up:

* A good running motor will blow out a dip stick with a shriveled hard rubber seal
* A dead motor (lots of blow by, busted pistons) will blow out a good dipstick
* A 1/2 dead motor will blow out a 1/2 dead dip stick

Depending on the actual cause and the severity, the fixes can be:

* A spring/wire to hold the dipstick down
* Pinch the tube at the top a bit
* Get a new dipstick
* A full engine rebuild or new pistons

If it blows out under boost with a glowing red turbo and manifold, it makes a nice engine fire. If it happens even once, figure out the cause and fix it.

-vfaq

 

[linksys42]

I would also change the oil back to a dino oil. And like kittay said it would be great to see pics of the car and I would like to see picks of the old plugs also. I didnt know if you just asked for plugs at the parts store and the guy gave you the wrong plugs, because I have never heard of NGK BPR3SE before. Never know what the yahoo’s at parts stores will give ya.

 

[rrussell]

Sounds like a good deal even if its smoking. If you can take some pics of the spark plugs after you drive it around for about 30 minutes.

Harbor frieght is suppose to have a cheap leak down tester I would look into that.

If they don't I can show you how to make one out of a compression tester from harbor frieght We had to do this once we were out of town racing and forgot ours.

 

[tqmx1]

^^^ Like he said dino oil 20W/50, It's approved down to 15 degrees. Just don't romp on it until it gets up to temp. That should cut down the mosquito abatement until you have time to reseal it.

And your comp checks you actuly gained.

First set 142 142 137 146
second 139 148 142 150

Run a Seafoam treatment drain&refill the oil and just keep track of it's usage. The ole beast just might come around.

 

[dirty32]

Here is the best picture I could manage with my digital camera, I have a few of the plugs individually but nothing that is more clear then this. The plugs are in the same order as the cylinders that I list my compressions for.

I put in the new plugs and haven't drivin the car since but I have to drive about 75 miles home tomorrow to get it to the garage.

If I take out the PCV out and put a filter on it and at the same time plug the line that goes to the intake will that allow me to make the drive back without blowing a quart of oil out of the dipstick and burning up a bunch?

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Slightly weary on doing a seafoam treatment until this oil burning problem is under control just because of hearing of engine seals which have been partly gunk that once they are cleaned away need to be replaced all together!

 

[linksys42]

Here is the best picture I could manage with my digital camera, I have a few of the plugs individually but nothing that is more clear then this. The plugs are in the same order as the cylinders that I list my compressions for.

I put in the new plugs and haven't drivin the car since but I have to drive about 75 miles home tomorrow to get it to the garage.

If I take out the PCV out and put a filter on it and at the same time plug the line that goes to the intake will that allow me to make the drive back without blowing a quart of oil out of the dipstick and burning up a bunch?

Slightly weary on doing a seafoam treatment until this oil burning problem is under control just because of hearing of engine seals which have been partly gunk that once they are cleaned away need to be replaced all together!

Just take the pcv valve out and blow thru it see if your able to blow thru it from the side that screws into the valve cover you should be able to blow thru it. You should not be able to blow thru the side of the PCV valve that the hose from the intake manifold attaches too. I know you are limited on tools but all it takes is I think a 14mm open end wrench and a pair of pliers. And when you put it back in be sure not to over tighten it. You can crack the valve cover very easily. When you have it out spray some carb cleaner thru it to clean it out if it's blocked. Also I wouldn't use seafoam either because of the same reason you stated (age of seals). Not trying to be an ass or anything but when you changed the oil did you start the engine and then shut it off then check it again? Or did you just change the oil made sure it was full and took it for a ride then checked the oil again to see it was low? Because the oil filter/cooler hold about half or 3/4 of a quart, and you need to start the engine then shut it off let it sit to let all the oil collect then top it off again when changing the oil. Just keep an eye on it for the trip. Also I wasn't thinking 20W/50, I was thinking more like 10w/40 dino.

 

[linksys42]

Also I forgot to mention that the breather this guy is talking about isn't off the PCV valve it's the breather for the valve cover that re-circulates the crank case air into the intake behind the mafs/airfilter not the intake manifold. Just wanted to clarify this because it sounded like you are going to put a breather filter on the pcv valve itself.

Too much crankcase pressure can be caused by an incorrect pcv valve setup. I know you said your stock but check to make sure the breather on the valve cover is still hooked up to the nipple on the intake. A new oem pcv valve would be a good idea as well. What kind of spark plugs did you replace yours with? NGK I hope

 

[dirty32]

Sorry about the long delay on updating this thread. Today I took the car out and it did not smoke at all during initial start up or while it warmed up. I took it out and did a few WOT pulls during which it blew blue oil smoke under boost. I brought it back to run a compression test.

When I pulled the plugs there was a small accumulation of oil in the middle of the valve cover, approx. an oil cap or two worth, and this was on the left side of the valve cover if you are looking at it from the front of the car. I also noticed a small amount of oil burning coming from around the turbo/down pipe area.

Here is a picture of the plugs. They are in order of cylinder as if you were looking at the engine from the front of the car as well.

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Close up on two fouled plugs:

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When I took the compression the first time it was as follows:

130(150 the second time with open throttle and oil), 147, 150, 148

The reason for the mistake on the first cylinder was that my roommate did not hold the throttle open and unfortunately I did not notice or double check with him until after I dumped a cap full of oil in.

All of the readings are +/- a point but overall the compression was around 148-150 across the board which somehow is better then when I checked it before buying the car?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. It seems that valve guide seals could be the culprit or possibly the turbo has gone or is going bad. I am getting my hands onto a leak down tester later today but do not have a garage or air compressor which will make things very tricky.

Thank you in advance for any help or insight.

Edit:Spelling

 

[knochgoon24]

Picture tip:
If you have macro on your camera (most do now days) please use it. It's usually a button with a flower. It should make your close up pick of the 2 fouled plugs much better. It's recommended when you are within a foot or so of the object.

 

[dirty32]

Thanks for the pointer, I was actually using it and for the first two it was about 6 inches away and for the last of the fouled plugs it was about an inch which just must have been too close.