ok i have a blinking cel so i didn't expect this to go well and i already narrowed it down to cylinder 1 as the culprit of my misfire. i changed the plugs which sucked in all 4 cylinders. cylinders 2-4 had signs of detonation and cylinder 1 had oil deposits on the plugs and i know this can mean bad valve guide seals or pistion rings.

ok here were the results of my compression test and i did it twice to be as accurate as possible

cylinder 1- ZERO compression! i got no reading at all
cylinder 2- 247 psi
cylinder 3- 241 psi
cylinder 4- 236 psi

i need to fix this issue and it's apparent to me there is something very wrong in cylinder 4. what could be the possible things causing no compression? it seems like the other cylinders are ok, there isn't much of a varience in between the psi which is good but there are up at the higher end for a b18c1. Should i just try to buy a new engine or should i try to fix the problem? where would you start with this issue? i want to fix this myself and i love my car, and i aint trying to let any mechanic touch my car.

 

well, it seems to me that the piston ring is gone in cylinder one, that would cause oil deposits on the spark plugs. if it wasn't a lot of oil then it's just a seal, but if it's like soaked then prolly the ring. did u try doing the test again? the problem is fixable, but it may just be cheaper to by a new bottom end for your motor. it's not that much. the entire long block will run you about $1700 offa the engine websites. to fix the problem yourself... hmm... well you're gonna need some serious know how, i can't really explain much here, cuz in reality, i have no experience with changing the internals of the engine... But i think you can just pull the crankshaft out of the bottom of the engine and replace the pistons and rings. make sure ur timing is on TDC and not advanced as well... that may be a possible cause of detonation. as to why your other pistons have such high pressure is beyond me, hopefully someone else is a bit more knowledgeable with compression testing.

 

This may sound stupid but before you jump to piston rings it could be valves. If you had no compression in cly #1 your motor would be so un balanced it would run like crap... like a bad bad misfire in that clyinder... anyways.... when your cranking the motor over and doing your test the valve face may not be seating down in the valve seat very well... basicly a burnt valve... but its very odd that you had no reading of compression. Are you 100% sure you snuged up the compression tester that time? Vacume test your head on the #1 intake and exhaust ports... good luck bro

 

Im thinking that you more than likely have a bent valve(s) in that cylinder. Pull the head and inspect it. If you look closely, you'll be able to determine if the valve is no longer seating.