So, I decided to do a compression test on my 1988 CRX Si just for peace of mind. The car starts, idles, and runs very well. Spark plugs look perfect and the car does not burn a drop of oil. This is my dedicated autocross car; no title and it's not street legal anyways. I'm in the process of doing a complete suspension overhaul and figured I would make sure the engine is healthy prior to sinking a significant amount of money into the car.

Without further ado...the compression test results:

Cylinder 1 - 208
Cylinder 2 - 205
Cylinder 3 - 210
Cylinder 4 - 1st attempt - 60, 2nd attempt - 60. Removed the tester, screwed it back in and got 110, cranked it again and got 110 again.

So I did a wet test in Cylinder 4 and got 110 again.

Since the wet test did not change the results I'm thinking it's the valves. Do you think it's just a valve sticking, out of adjustment, or something else? Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start or things to try before tearing into the engine? All thoughts, opinions, suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

 

do a full valve lash adjustment, then do the compression test again. I think you'll find the numbers to be very different after a fresh valve adjustment.

and make sure the plugwell is as clean as possible before putting the tester hose in.

 

Thanks motoxxxman. After doing some more research, it seems as though you have confirmed what I had discovered as well. I did notice that the cylinder 4 plugwell/threads were significantly dirtier than the others. Any way you look at it, the engine has ~104k on it and as far as I know valve lash adjustment has never been done; so it's long overdue. I'll do an adjustment and report back.