Compression, no compression

[Ranger5.0]

lol, wounder how he checked the head to see if it was warped...prolly with the shop bench and eyeballed it. Get your truck back man. So far they have dicked around with it and havent FIXED anything, let alone found the cause of your drivability issues. It sounds like your dealing with a parts installer, not a real technician.

 

[Young_unn]

young_unn Define eating coolent. Is it a leak when hot? does the exaust smell sweat? and you say you dont know if its eating oil...a good way to get a good handle on that is to check it, dayly

It is not eating oil, i think i meant to say that i dont see coolent in the oil.

I did get quite an odd smell from the truck once after i parked it and got out.

The coolant is just disappearing out the resevoir, Im going to pull off the timing belt cover and take a look to see if the waterpump is leaking or something else is. I dont see anything dripping from the engine that i have noticed

Im going to make sure that a sensor isnt reading wrong and telling the computer something that it shouldnt be.

Me temp gauge doesent go about the lowest part of the ok section of the guage, ( it moves about 1/4 inch )

 

[akcskye]

IDK if this can be done on a newer vehicle...

BUT...my dad is going to check the compression on Cricket by having hubby push it and seeing if the truck can be started manually.

If it can be started during pushing, then dad says it is more than likely a compression issue, because right now, it's D.E.A.D. on attempting to start it.

There's one other thing he's going to check first...because he did find it's timing belt was off by 1"...and it gave a quick "brrrtt" which is something it hasn't done in a month...so he's gonna check some sort of sensor by the timing mechanism that I guess has something to do with it.

Anyway...I just wanted to offer this up to you as a potential "cheap" way to see if you're getting compression or not.

 

[Ranger5.0]

um, pushing to see if it starts isnt a good way to see if it has compression lol.There is a lot more to it then that.

 

[Dave R]

because he did find it's timing belt was off by 1"....

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using the Imperial system to define the amount that their timing belt was misaligned by. Where exactly did he take this measurement? Usually it's measured/expressed in # of teeth or degrees.

 

[bginn]

Got truck back today. Only missing on one cylinder now. Yippee!!? Mechanic says there has to be some sort of internal vacuum leak causing the lonley, steady, miss at idle. I drove the truck a little this evening. Although with the miss, the engine seems to have more power than before. After quizzing the mechanic a little, I agree with all your responses about him being a part-swapper. His next alternative was to check for vacuum leaks and sensors. It look as if this would have been done before the head job. Damnit boy. Haven't got the bill yet. I think he was too ashamed.

 

[Broncodude]

Is he ASE? If he doesn't know what that means your in trouble. They should have ground the valves at the very least if they were leaking. It might have needed new valves? or seats? guides? That should have been cked if the heads were pulled. Not just "cleaned up"

Valve guides are small holes machined through the cylinder head for the valves. The valves fit into and slide in these guides.

Valve seats are round, machined surfaces in the combustion chamber port openings. When a valve is closed, it seals against the valve seat.

The compression gauge reading for a good cylinder will increase evenly to specifications. The gauge readings should not vary by more than about 10% from one cylinder to another.

Look for cylinder pressure variation during an engine compression check. If some cylinders have normal pressure and one or two have low readings, engine performance will be reduced. The engine will idle roughly and lack power. If all the cylinders have low compression readings (worn timing chain for example), the engine may run smoothly but lack power and get poor gas mileage. If two adjacent cylinders read low, the engine may have a blown head gasket between the two cylinders. A blown head gasket will sometimes produce a louder than normal puffing noise from the spark plug, injector, or glow plug holes with the gauge removed.

Low engine compression can be caused by:

*
Burned valve—valve face damaged by combustion heat.
*
Burned valve seat—cylinder head seat damaged by combustion.
*
Physical engine damage—hole in piston, broken valve, etc.
*
Blown head gasket—head gasket ruptured.
*
Worn rings or cylinders—part wear prevents ring-to-cylinder seal.
*
Valve train troubles—valves adjusted with insufficient clearance (keeps them from fully closing), broken valve springs, etc.
*
Jumped timing chain or belt—loose or worn chain or belt has jumped over teeth, upsetting valve timing.

Gasoline engine compression readings should be 125–175 psi (860–1200 kPa). Generally, the compression pressure should not vary more than 15–20 psi (100–140 kPa) from the highest to the lowest cylinder. Readings must be within 10% to 15% of each other.

 

[akcskye]

In a family of one man and 3 women, he "dummies down" the measurements. LOL

I'm sure he knows the degrees or teeth, and just told us it was 1".

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using the Imperial system to define the amount that their timing belt was misaligned by. Where exactly did he take this measurement? Usually it's measured/expressed in # of teeth or degrees.

 

[akcskye]

In these new cars, probably so.

Dad is an EXCELLENT mechanic on the old stuff (pre-computers), but he does what he can before turning to the computers to diagnose.

um, pushing to see if it starts isnt a good way to see if it has compression lol.There is a lot more to it then that.

 

[Young_unn]

Turns out mine misfire is that the vavles are leaking, quite bad actually.

Would i be able to use a head off of a 97 ranger? or should i go and get the valves ground?

 

[Dave R]

Turns out mine misfire is that the vavles are leaking, quite bad actually.

Would i be able to use a head off of a 97 ranger? or should i go and get the valves ground?

If you have a '95 or newer, then yes.

 

[Ranger5.0]

ok, so you say there could be an ineternal vaccume leak? Like, what does THAT mean? Askthe guy if hes ASE Cert. If he says ya, ask to see it. DOnt just blindly pay the bill call hi man asshole under his breath and move on. i got into a problem much like this with a ford dealership. I ended up getting an apology from the service manager, and the labor nocked off the bill. IF there was some type of leak between mating serfaces between the intake and head or throttle body and intake manafold, that should have become apparent when he pulled the head off, because that stuff should come off to do head work. This is realy sounding shady. If he attempts to backpedle and say "maybe there is a leak beween cylinders" Remind hi mthat he must have put a new head gasket on it when he re installed the head. AND when "cleaning" the combustion chambers he should have seen tell tail signs that compustion pressure and heat were leaking between cylinders. It will actualy burn out a bit of the metal where it is leaking. The fact that he is thinging it might be a sensor, after all this work tells me hes an idiot. You can do a lot with a good scan tool. A cylinder balance test would show right away which cylinders arnt carrying there own weight. a KOER test would give clues to sensor operation, and some time with a milti meter would show if some of the sensors are working properly. When you see him, discuss labor costs, as well as parts. A LOT of time was wasted pulling heads and jerkin things off that were fine. You shouldnt need to pay for a imcompitant mechanic. Same goes for parts that were replaced without reason. In my line of work, if we pulled a stund like this, we would be out of a job. Its beter to lose a technitian then to lose a customer who spens 100G a year. Give them a hard time and you might same some money, or at least feel better