At 09:48 PM 12/13/01 -0800, Adam Schellinck wrote:
>Fixed the problem for a couple of days then it came back with a vengance.
>.... plugs no 2&3 are black and fouled, I am thinking that it is a leak in
>the gasket between these cylenders am I correct in that assumption?? ....
Yup, a pretty good guess. First thing is to do a compression check on all
four cylinders. If they don't match within 10%, or if any of then is less
than about 110 psi, then you have some internal problems there. If #2 and
#3 are both low and nearly the same, then you likely have a blown head
gasket, or possible burned exhaust valves on those cylinders. You can also
squirt a little oil in each cylinder and repeat the compression test. If
the pressure reading increases at least 10 psi you probably have bad rings.
For a better diagnostic approach before disassembly you can do a blow down
test. For each cylinder in turn, rotate engine to exactly TDC on the
compression stroke, apply about 20 psi of air pressure to the spark plug
port, and listen. Hissing at the carburetor is a leaky intake
valve. Hissing at the tail pipe is a leaky exhaust valve. Hissing at the
oil filler opening in the valve cover is leaky rings. If you remove the
pushrods or move the rocker arms to one side so the valves don't open, then
you can do the blow down test at BDC and not worry about the engine
spinning from the applied air pressure.
Once you acquire this information we can all lend you some more informed
suggestions on what to do, and hopefully you won't be spending sums of
money on unnecessary repairs while guessing wht might be wrong.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude (and a compression tester in the traveling tool kit)
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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