01-28-2023, 12:58 PM
Just a cautionary note to anyone who gets a diagnosis of a "bad cylinder" from a shop.
My engine was stuttering a bit, the car shook while idling, and power seemed low, there was a noticeable shudder around 3krpm, so I took it into a very good and trusted shop to diagnose the problem. They did a compression test and found low compression in cylinder#3, and said they don't do "ring jobs" or any work in the cylinders, and even mentioned the possibility of getting a new engine.
Well, thanks to the sensible advice on this fixkick site, to never forget about valve clearance adjustment, I decided it couldn't hurt to try that. When I got in there the clearances were so far off that I wondered if I was reading the wrong info or the engine was nonstandard. anyway I set the clearances to the values in the specifications of my manual, and crossed my fingers, it started right up and ran smoother than it had in a couple years.
Thanks to fixkick advice, the old Zuki is up and running again, and the 8-valve procedure didn't even require any special tools.
I really appreciate all the advice. And the best part is the job only cost about 10$ for the new gasket on the valve cover.
My engine was stuttering a bit, the car shook while idling, and power seemed low, there was a noticeable shudder around 3krpm, so I took it into a very good and trusted shop to diagnose the problem. They did a compression test and found low compression in cylinder#3, and said they don't do "ring jobs" or any work in the cylinders, and even mentioned the possibility of getting a new engine.
Well, thanks to the sensible advice on this fixkick site, to never forget about valve clearance adjustment, I decided it couldn't hurt to try that. When I got in there the clearances were so far off that I wondered if I was reading the wrong info or the engine was nonstandard. anyway I set the clearances to the values in the specifications of my manual, and crossed my fingers, it started right up and ran smoother than it had in a couple years.
Thanks to fixkick advice, the old Zuki is up and running again, and the 8-valve procedure didn't even require any special tools.
I really appreciate all the advice. And the best part is the job only cost about 10$ for the new gasket on the valve cover.