Sorry for the dumb question, but when doing a compression test my shop manual instructs me to crank the engine.
How am I supposed to crank it?
TIA

 

use the starter, duh

 

Make sure you cut off fuel before you crank it! Pull the fuse to the fuel pump.

 

Compression Test

Warm up the engine.
Disable the ignition by removing the HT lead from the ignition coil.
Remove all the Spark Plugs.
A helper is useful as it leaves you free to watch the Compression gauge during the test.
Beware of hot parts whenever working on a warm engine.
The throttle and choke plate must be fully open for an accurate test. If you have an assistant, have them fully depress the accelerator (opens throttle plate) when cranking the engine.
Note: Avoid smoking and open flames because the air-fuel charge will come out of the sparkplug holes when the engine is cranked.

Screw in the Compression tester and crank the engine.
Hold the throttle open.
Crank the engine so the tested cylinder has about 6-8 compression strokes. (You can hear cranking speed slow as the tested cylinder comes up on its compression stroke).
Note how fast Compression increases and jot down the highest reading.
Test all four cylinders the same way.
Give each cylinder the same number of compression strokes.