preparing for the future

[fixkick]

Well that wasn't the best news I was looking for, but I will do the partial tear down and check the lash, and listen and hope for the best. it now kind of makes me concerned for the pistons, if motor in fact has 281,5xx miles they could also be shot. I will only be able to use 96+ block? because of ckp? although 2 and 3 cylinders had good compression. what would make the cam time backwards, i think i read a post about it a few years ago. at any rate thanks for the help. Cheers Bill

your using the V8 style engine compression gauge, are you sure you can get a good seal way down in side them wells.?
id use screw in, you can also do a cleak dwn test. and find out who leaks.
the 92-95 blocks work great, if you swap pan and oil pump.
no your can is not timed wrong. as 180PSI is hot as a pistol on 2 jugs.
i usually just check lash on the front failing jug, if perfect, then i listen to the sounds. with a rubber hose to my ear, im always curious as to the leakage path.
that tells me how much i need to repair, (case in point
1: i hear intakes leak, with hose, stuffed in plenum. ,bad valves. are they bent? I think? something to check careful with head off.
2: i hear the exh.port leak, more common, ok just needs valve grind. (rubber hose at Exh port 1)
3: i hear leaks in the crank case? hose in oil filler, cap hole, or stuffed deep in the valve area oil drain back holes. Rings stuck in lands or broken up.
4: i hear air leak as i walk hose around head gasket, oops , it might only need a head shave and new gasket.

see FYI here
http://www.fixkick.com/compressiontest.html#leakdown

you can even use the rubber hose 1 more way, water pump off, hose in the place pump came from, water jackets
turn crank by hand , hear hissing here, that is a cracked block into to the jackets, all for the cost of a 10cent hose.
your engine can talk to you.

if the head gasket leaks , you take off head, and do 2 things.
1: measure with a mech. steel ruler , for the .001" rule of warping. per foot so , .0015 is max warp, using a feeler guage.
the book shows cross wise, this ruller test.
if that passes, you are happy , no need to shave head.
then i do the combustion leak test. head off. I fill them with fuel, and see i the valves leak, if they look burned up, skip this test, obvious.
we do this on new head too, to see of the head shop was on out to lunch that day.

my new head pulls nd hot it does 195PSI.




the leak down test is useless on a flat dead cylinder. but the pressure hose can be used to find the source of that leak.
one tricks is to hold the crank bolt, hard at Firing point TDC.
then attach the hose, and put 20psi in the hose. using tool reg.
then listen to valve ports. ext.
then listen to the crank case and water pump ports, as you walk the piston from TDC firing ,down the power stroke, as you hear the BTC the exh.
valve opens early so avoid that point. but before that, it must not leak. as the compression cycle , is walked by hand.
you can hear the rings sometime fail, as you hit scored cylinder walls. or a crank in same.

why would i do that.? easy, i see a cracked block, etc, im out looking for a used block ,pronto. or a whole motor.
can be real pain ,putting a good new (rebuilt ) head on a bad block. so i let my tools tell me how bad things, might be.
but dead compression on #1 so dead, in fact, many of my tests above are useless, cept exit path.

good luck on you motor ! happy trails