wheelsup Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 So I've been losing coolant and it was recommended to do a compression test. Having never done one I was a bit apprehensive, but I decided to go ahead and try one, I think I did it correctly. I drove around 10 minutes, car was hot, took out all the plugs and floored the gas pedal. On the first set I used 4 revolutions and then redid at 6 revolutions to check the max of cylinder 1 and cylinder 5. I went down the line 1-5 on this these tests.Here they are:I went for another drive, did it again, used 10 revolutions, and got a max of 195 on cylinder two and only 178 on cylinder 5., which I did tested first. Cylinder 4 was 185 I believe. I can't remember exactly but it wasn't in the 190's.Thoughts???It looks OK to me although that last cylinder concerns me a bit. Still OK for 148,000 miles? Do you think I should go get a block tester to check the head or should this rule it out?I also looked at the heater core casing and couldn't find any indication of coolant loss. No bright green drops anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmsee Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 I would say compression is getting into the low zone . If I am not mistaken it should be around 185-220 Good healthy NA should have around 200 or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 VII 7 Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 yeah but all the numbers are pretty close to each other... those numbers are not that bad for a NAI would check for leaks of coolant first before any HG action to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 yeah but all the numbers are pretty close to each other... those numbers are not that bad for a NAI would check for leaks of coolant first before any HG action to be honest.I've looked around, can't find ANY coolant anywhere. I'm told the block tester is the most decisive test for the HG, I just want to know either way before I start swapping out my tranny for another one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 VII 7 Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 I've looked around, can't find ANY coolant anywhere. I'm told the block tester is the most decisive test for the HG, I just want to know either way before I start swapping out my tranny for another one.How much coolant are you loosing?could be evaporating before it hits the ground... also look at your expansion tank for cracks... might want to order a new expansion tank and cap (ONLY OEM ONLY OEM ONLY OEM!!!)I guess do a HG Block test then..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal3thousand Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Leak down test time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 How much coolant are you loosing?It's a small amount, maybe 1/2 cup or so over 800 miles. Just enough to be noticeable.I don't want to throw parts at it, I want to know if the HG is bad or not.Leak down test time.What's better, a leak down test or a block tester (from NAPA)?Also what about oil analysis? It just seems like it's such a small amount of coolant that I wonder if it would show up in any test? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Also what about oil analysis? It just seems like it's such a small amount of coolant that I wonder if it would show up in any test?if you do oil analysis they should be able to find it. blackstone does some tests that you might want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 if you do oil analysis they should be able to find it. blackstone does some tests that you might want.Thanks jaxx I'll check them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 VII 7 Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 is there any mixing of oil in your coolant? or on your dipstick?leak down test will see if it is the pistons or HG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 is there any mixing of oil in your coolant? or on your dipstick?leak down test will see if it is the pistons or HGThere seems to be a bit of condensation on the dipstick tube (water droplets) from top to bottom and what seems like a very small amount of milky-ness on the tip of the dipstick, however I was thinking that was more due to bad o-rings.No oil in the coolant from what I can see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 VII 7 Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 There seems to be a bit of condensation on the dipstick tube (water droplets) from top to bottom and what seems like a very small amount of milky-ness on the tip of the dipstick, however I was thinking that was more due to bad o-rings.No oil in the coolant from what I can see.do you do a lot of short trips in the car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 do you do a lot of short trips in the car?Normally no but today I have been, the last trip 2 hours ago was .5 miles.I've checked after driving 20 miles and most of the water and all if not most of the milky-ness on the dipstick is gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Normally no but today I have been, the last trip 2 hours ago was .5 miles.I've checked after driving 20 miles and most of the water and all if not most of the milky-ness on the dipstick is gone.also look around your radiator, since it cools both the coolant and oil (and tranny oil) it can mix when the radiator is failing. I suppose it is possible that it is a very very small hairline crack. Does the coolant look contaminated at all?and has the car ever overheated in it's life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup Posted February 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 also look around your radiator, since it cools both the coolant and oil (and tranny oil) it can mix when the radiator is failing. I suppose it is possible that it is a very very small hairline crack. Does the coolant look contaminated at all?and has the car ever overheated in it's life?No the coolant in the expansion tank looks great, no oil that I can see. Been in there 6-7 months and there is no oil slick on top.It overheated twice, once when a lower radiator hose blew, which caused the temp to spike however I shut it off right away. The second time it slowly creeped up when the fan relay stopped working and the radiator fan didn't turn on, however it didn't stay pegged because I shut it off right when I noticed it. But due to it's history of overheating twice in rapid succession has me thinking head gasket. This was 6 months ago that both these incidents happened, and it's losing such a small amount I don't know if it started after the overheating events or after I replaced all the other hoses back in October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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