for 40 bucks you could buy a compression tester. and do it yourself, if you have low compression in a cylinder after doing a test you can find out if it is the rings or valves by putting in a small amount of oil.
anyway method is
buy compression tester.
pull sparkplugs out (keep them in the same spot so you can examine if the sparkplugs are alright for the cylinders)
disconnect ignitoin so it doesn't spark unwantedly everywhere.
put compression tester in cylinder
open throttle wide open
crank engine over for about 5 or so seconds
let go of throrrtle, check reading on guage.
repeat for other cylinders, and they should all be within about 5% of each other.
if one is low then pour about a teaspoon of oil in the cylinder and re run the compression, if it significantly goes up then rings are on way out, if it is still low then valves are the issue.
go on buy one, you know you want to.
Wed, 13 April 2005 00:05
