s52 cylinder 1 and 2 zero compression :*(

[E30_80Y]

Last friday, I was driving normally around 45mph and all of a sudden I feel the car vibrate a little and as I applied gas, the car was noticeably weaker than normal. I immediately pulled over to see what was wrong.

I threw some water on the all exhaust headers cylinder 1 was not sizzling hot like the rest(furthest one, the one in the far front of the car).

I have checked fuel and sparks, both seemed ok, I then did a compression check and cylinder 1 and 2 were giving me a zero read out, the rest were around 90.

So before I take this engine apart, is there anything else that your guy would think is the problem? The car is a S52 with Schrick cams.

[superultrahippo]

leakdown test is the next logical step.

90psi is pretty low btw.

[JdmEuroNorth]

You pretty much have to tear down that motor to see what the problem and cause are.



Sorry man.

[Eecen]

shitty deal

[7pilot]

I like the water on the headers trick.

Looks like it might have jumped time. I would check the lock bolts for the vanos. It also may be that a camshaft broke/cracked, during their installation.
Either way, compression nos that low compared to the other cylinders are bad news.

m

[Adrian_Visser]

90 psi is very low compression, if you're getting it across multiple cylinders you're doing something wrong. Dumping cold water on hot headers is asking for them to crack from thermal shock.

[Fusion]

Did the needle on the compression gauge wiggle at all on 1 and 2?
I'm thinking the same thing as 7pilot, valves are stuck open.

[nrubenstein]

Or head gasket failure between 1 and 2. Usually, it's between 5 and 6, but i've seen 1 fail as well.

[E30_80Y]

at this point i have started to open the motor up, camshaft are intact. now since i aiint no mechanic, my question is do i really have to take everything off (i.e. front exhaust manifold, intake manifold,......) like the bentley manual says? or can i get away with not removing some of those things?
I am also worried that when i put everything back together i will messup something cuz it seems so technical.

[Kershaw]

you are not experienced enough for this. do not ruin your motor. find someone to help you or go to a mechanic.

you will have to take off the entire top half of the motor.

[Fusion]

cuz it seems so technical.

lol. Listen to Kershaw.

What you can do without harming the engine is take off the intake and have a look in the intake holes on the head, see if there's anything odd.

[etxxz]

last night i was a this guy's house (friend of friend kind of thing)

He had a 3000gt VR4 that said it wasnt running well. It was completely taken apart and had shit everywhere, bolts everywhere. I didnt want to say anthing, but that car will never run again under his hand. It makes no reason to take Your engine apart if you don't know what the problem is.

Diagnosing correctly will save you time and money. If you haven't conducted a leak down, i suggest you do ASAP before you screw up. You need experience and tools to do this right. You need organization. You need to know failure modes and how to approach them.


where in FL are you? i have some things. btw, i took my head off this week with the headers attached (i hate bolting them) You need a second pair of hands for sure.

[E30_80Y]

I'm west of Orlando. Anyhow, I have found the problem. The headgasket was blown between the two cylinders that were down. Cylinder 1 and 2.

[etxxz]

well ok. easy (relatively speaking) fix. replace the check valve under your head while you're there. $13.