All, I have a 55 Buick Special. Odometer says 93K. Drove it into the barn last year, now it won't start. Verified timing, spark, fuel both there. Cranks over just fine but won't catch. Makes kind-of a "foomph" noise when the cylinder is trying to fire. Did a compression test on it tonight. Manual says 140 psi. Results were: #1: 35 psi #3: 45 psi #5: 27 psi #7: 34 psi Only did the one side of the engine, because the results were so sad. Put a little 10w30 in the #3 cylinder, got compression up to about 58 psi from 45 psi. Now, the oil test is supposed to tell me if it's rings or valves. The compression went up, so I would ***ume rings. But, with such a small increase, can I be sure it's rings? Would bad rings ever test this LOW? Not a happy camper , Mike
you need to do a leakdown test to see where the problem is. http://autos.yahoo.com/maintain/repairqa/engine/ques057_1.html http://www.geocities.com/dsmgrrrl/FAQs/leakdown.htm
Give 'em all a liberal dose of Marvel Mystery Oil and let it sit there and think about what it's done for a few days, then whip it over with the plugs out to expel the excess, install the plugs, and try again.
The Jalopy Journal
