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Old 06-08-2009, 11:36 AM
JonL JonL is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Long Island
Posts: 578
Quote:
Originally Posted by E150GT View Post
I see that putting a teaspoon of oil in the cylinder raised compression. Is this a test or a small cure? Just curious.
It's a test. The theory is that a little oil will help seal worn rings, but not burned valves. So if the compression goes up dramatically with oil in the cylinder, it points towards rings/bores, if it does not it points to valves/head gasket. It really only makes sense to try (IMO) if the compression is down to like 75psi when it should be 150+. A leakdown test is much more accurate as you can listen for where the air is escaping.
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