My 77 Midget (1500 engine) has an oil leak down low
by the dipstick. I thought it was the pan gasket.
After I put in my new dizzy I found that I was leaking
even more oil. I found that the oil is not coming from
the pan gasket but from the dipstick hole. I checked
the oil, it is full but not over full. The valve
cover vent is not plugged. I still get the leak if I
run the engine with the valve cover vent disconnected
from the carb. at the valve cover. Now I figure that the
problem is excessive crankcase pressure even though the
the crankcase is vent is work. I then ran a compression
test and these are the number I got:
Cylinder 1: 135 psi dry / 155 psi with oil
Cylinder 2: 40 psi dry / 60 psi with oil
Cylinder 3: 75 psi dry / 90 psi with oil
Cylinder 4: 135 psi dry / 170 psi with oil
I ran my compression tests with all of the spark plugs in, and
I squirted a couple shots of 20-40W engine oil into the cylinders
for the tests with oil.
Now I am wondering what are my options. I think they range
from a complete rebuild to doing nothing. I would like something
in the middle. First exactly what do these number tell me?
Like cyl 4 is it just a set of bad rings and cyl 1 is a set of
bad valves and maybe rings. What is the correct answer?
What are good numbers for compression? What would I see on a
newly re-built motor? Could I get away with just re-ringing the
pistons and a valve job. I am trying to explore my options. I
would like to avoid a full engine rebuild at this time.
I can see where that would lead me to many other things (hotter cam,
paint the car since the engine is out, weber, headers, etc.) and
I currently don't want to do all of this stuff. Maybe down the
road but not now if I can avoid it.
Thanks in advance,
Bill
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Bill Gilroy
77 Midget
E-mail: wmgilroy@lucent.com
Telephone: 732-957-4775
Fax: 732-957-4775
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