Not the phone call I wanted to hear... losing 100psi compression on 2 cylinders

[MC Hammered]

Car started misfiring, thought it may be a coil pack issue so I limped the car to Blitzkrieg.

They checked the coil packs and swapped in new plugs yesterday and no change in symptoms. Today they do more testing and find that 4 cylinders have 200psi compression, 2 only have 100psi.

They will test a bit more and see if the issue is in the head or the block... but for now the wagon isn't going anywhere.

[e30lov]

s38 touring time

[!kid]

Is it just me or does 200psi seem high? Have them do a leak down test to help pin point the problem.

[nates 87 325is]

200 sounds really high. I think mine were in the 160s.

[FLG]

Does it have any work done?? Thats pretty high, should be in the 160's

[kronus]

Does it have any work done?? Thats pretty high, should be in the 160's

Folks, it's an s38, 200 is a reasonable compression for it

[MC Hammered]

Actually it is a s52 and I am only reporting the info I was provided, but bottom line is 2 cylinders are losing a lot of compression.

A leakdown test will be done next to see if the problem can be determined, but my tech said it is not a HG.

[FLG]

Than it makes sense.

Well I hope for your sake its a head/valve issue so your not stuck doing a full tear down. Did the numbers change if they added oil to the clyinders? If they went up substantially it would point to rings.

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[325ix]

Than it makes sense.

Well I hope for your sake its a head/valve issue so your not stuck doing a full tear down. Did the numbers change if they added oil to the clyinders? If they went up substantially it would point to rings.

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I was going to say if it isn't the HG, I would think the piston rings are to blame.

Also, being in canada, why do you have an S52?

[nrubenstein]

Two cylinders at half compression will almost certainly be the head gasket if they are adjacent.

[nrubenstein]

I was going to say if it isn't the HG, I would think the piston rings are to blame.

Also, being in canada, why do you have an S52?

Canuckia only got a handful of early model euro M3s, before switching to our weak sauce version.

[LJ851]

Two cylinders at half compression will almost certainly be the head gasket if they are adjacent.

Yep,This.

[MC Hammered]

Compression test shows fluctuating 80-100psi on cylinder 5, 80psi on cylinder 6.

So they did a leak down test on my wagon and the issue is in the head... either an intake valve is bent or one of the lifters crapped out. I'm hoping it is the latter.

Head is coming off the engine next to determine what the fault is... so any one want to take a guess?

[mbonanni]

hg

[FLG]

hg

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