i went out and bought a cheap compression tester from harbor freight (9 bucks cheap)

anyways, tested it today.

pulled ecu fuse

pulled spark plugs and wires.

connected and cranked 8 times per cylinder.

numbers were

#1-150
#2-160
#3-150
#4-140

I didn't put any oil in the tubes to help with "sealing the rings", just hooked up and tested.

anyways. I did the test because I'm getting white smoke out of my exhaust at higher RPM's. The numbers above look a little low, but are fairly consistent.

Do you guys think I should go ahead and do a leak down test?

The car is having trouble accelerating, it kinda stumbles, sometimes it just falls on its face from a start, and of course the white smoke.

No oil loss, a little coolant loss (from full to low in the reservoir in 15k miles)

I also get a gray substance in my intake manifold and intake tube. i have pictures of it but ill have to post those when i get back to my house.

Thanks for reading, looking, helping.

Specs: 1992 dx hatchback, d16z6 with I/H/E, port and polished head, valve job, milled head .010, have no idea if timing is correct, haven't had a chance to check it.

 

if its white and smells kinda sweet, its antifreeze. Premature headgasket failure possibly

 

i have a video of smoke..lemme post it real quick...

 

what smoke? Looks normal to me.

 

was your engine cold when u did the test? If so do it again with it hot, and did u have it at WOT during the test? Also after u do the test dry trying adding a cap of oil and see if the numbers go up. When was the last time u did a valve adjustment, also check timming.

 

it was warm...not quite hot, but not cold.

it was at WOT

ive given it 3 valve adjustments. they are always good at first but always start ticking reallly really loud after about 20 mins of running. almost like it loosens back up.

yes the lock nuts are tight.

timing check will come when i get the chance.

and i really dont see the oil thing doing much more than falsifying the numbers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo_y8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what smoke? Looks normal to me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

its a video...watch it

 

The oil will tell u if the rings are ok, if the numbers stay in the same area then u need to check your valves and head gasket

 

yea i did watch it before i posted.

 

here as some pictures

first off spark plugs. in order 4 3 2 1

one is white while the others are lookin pretty good. mean anything?



then there is this








its not oil, it looks metallic and its like a thin pasty substance??

 

are you running the hose from the valve cover to the intake.

If so its the crank case vent. oils/garbage

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo_y8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are you running the hose from the valve cover to the intake.

If so its the crank case vent. oils/garbage</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes i am running that hose. and i have seen oil get in there. sometimes alot.

but its never been that color or consistency before. Im gonna hope all my problems are timing issues.

i think im gonna go ahead and buy a leakdown tester and use it at work(have compressor) and see what else i can find.

 

Coolant in the #2 chamber.

 

how can you tell?

please elaborate

 

the pasty stuff at the TB looks more like antiseize than anything. either that or a oily/watery mix.
I don't see anything the other guy is talking about on the plug.
Leakdown will tell all...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92ehatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how can you tell?

please elaborate</TD></TR></TABLE>

No reason at all. I don't know what I am talking about. Pay no attention to me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by miahmouse &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the pasty stuff at the TB looks more like antiseize than anything. either that or a oily/watery mix.
I don't see anything the other guy is talking about on the plug.
Leakdown will tell all... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Leakdown most likely won't show the problem in this case. Either invest in a block tester or have a shop do it for you. Tell me what they say when you are done...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid93Eg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

No reason at all. I don't know what I am talking about. Pay no attention to me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

im serious. im here for help. and to learn. if you can actually tell there is coolant in that cylinder. please let me know how.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92ehatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

im serious. im here for help. and to learn. if you can actually tell there is coolant in that cylinder. please let me know how.</TD></TR></TABLE>

From what you have described, you have the beginning stages of headgasket failure. Its something that may not show up on the compression tests. Think of it this way, if you had a VERY small leak (like you described) its possible that the headgasket would act like a one way valve. Until the cooling system gets some pressure in it, its not going to leak. You said you had this problem only at high rpm and that you have small amounts of coolant being lost over time. The system should never loose ANY amount of coolant at all.

Look at the #2 plug. It looks cleaner then the rest. Ask yourself what steam would do to all the carbon and crap that usually builds up on the end of the plugs? Its going to clean it. Coolant in the chamber will clean that chamber out. So will water, etc. The steam will break the carbon up. You could also use a flashlight to look down the spark plug tubes and get a little bit of an idea by checking piston tops.

You have two ways to test this theroy. The best way, in my opinion, is to get a block tester. They run about $50 at Napa. You might be able to find one cheaper, its a little pricey to get for just one test. Maybe a shop could do this for you for cheaper, but I doubt it. This will check for exhaust gases in the cooling system and confirm a bad headgasket. This way you know for sure what you problem is an won't be wasting any money on headgasket replacement, should this prove to not be the issue. The second option is to get a cooling system pressure testing kit. Agian, fairly expensive and in my opinion less effective. This would allow you to pressurize the cooling system and watch for pressure loss. It SHOULD hold pressure. You should also be able to see coolant leaking into the cylinder if the gasket is bad. A little more involved then the block testing method for sure and it will take more knowledge on your part to come to a solid conclusion. The block tester method leaves no room for error.

If you have white smoke and coolant loss, assume bad headgasket and work to proving this. The clean plug tip in your case isn't REAL severe, but like I said, I think your headgasket leak is small. With a bad leak, you will get very clean parts and will be able to see it using a flashlight down the spark plug holes. This would also cause smoking all the time, rough idle, power loss, etc. Hope this helps.

 

ok thanks very much

i can use a block tester at one place i work

and a coolant pressure tester at another place i work. so i got those covered.

thanks for the information

 

usually doesnt affect much but you are suppose to lock oppen the throttle plates when u do a test so that could account for a lower reading but yet consistant. if still low across all try the oil trick to see if its rings

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by seabass10369 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">usually doesnt affect much but you are suppose to lock oppen the throttle plates when u do a test so that could account for a lower reading but yet consistant. if still low across all try the oil trick to see if its rings</TD></TR></TABLE>

he did it at WOT.

im pretty sure its gonna be a headgasket leaking too.

 

yeah. im just trying to get the most definate answer i can by doing diff tests and getting different answers.

im not in a good financial situation. So i cant go wasting time and money fixing something that is not the problem.

the head was milled probably 20k miles ago by a previous owner. .010, also a d16y8 headgasket was put on (brand new)

its weird to me that its already bad, unless something was done improperly of course.

oh well..good luck to me i guess.

 

to the WOT i understood that as he did WOT for the video but i may have miss read

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92ehatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it was warm...not quite hot, but not cold.

it was at WOT

</TD></TR></TABLE>