tpatru

I have a 99 Civic DX with 180k miles. Had the head gasket replaced last year because of water getting in the cylinders. Ran fine for a while, and now has started running rough at idle after warming up. The #2 plug was fouled, so I did a compression test and found the #2 cylinder to be 75, with the other three at 170. I tried dripping some oil in the cylinder and repeating the test; the compression may have gone up by not more than 5lb.
The car has not been abused at all; I've driven it to school and back for the last 30k miles. Never overheated or driven fast.
What should my next step be?

Former User

Sounds like a bad valve. Either do a cylinder leak down test or pull the head off to see the problem.

tpatru

Is it more likely to be a valve or a ring? Or the head gasket? I'm a student with very limited time and money, so I'm trying to decide if I should try to fix this engine, replace it, or just sell the car and get another one.

Former User

A leak down test will answer your questions, though my guess is a bad valve.