SuBrat84 Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 1984 GL Brat EA81 .. I have this really bad feeling like the whole time I've been driving this brat (not more than 100 miles) it has been running on 3 cyls. It seems like the #4 isn't fire.. and the compression in #4 is about 20 pounds lower than the other three... 150's.. 130 on #4. It's got like 230k miles on it.. I'm starting to worry this is going to be an expensive fix.. I'm hopin I just gapped the plug wrong.. but when I was taking my *NEW* wires off.. 3 of them broke... So now I gotta go spend another 18 bux for a set of wires before I can mess with it more. #4 not firing would be a good reason I failed emissions. Damn hydrocarbons. I'm gonna move my plugs around to see if it's the plug or not.. All 4 wires are getting spark.. but it might be a timing issue too.. the light I have is a POS. Now that I have extra plug wires though I can use the *good* timing light. Please if you have any suggestions for me to try? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBrat84 Posted May 24, 2005 Author Share Posted May 24, 2005 Do I need to adjust the valve lifters on this? How do I go about that, what tools do I need and how do I know it's right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 With compression numbers like that, you probably have a head gasket problem. Pull the engine, spend $100 on a gasket kit, and rebuild the top end. If you still have low compression on #4 after that, then its a ring. -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBrat84 Posted May 25, 2005 Author Share Posted May 25, 2005 If I'm gonna pull it and re-do the top end shouldn't I do the rings ANYWAY? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RavenTBK Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 Not really.. but its one of those things where "since you're in it this far" applies. Since you've got the engine out and heads off.. might as well. Since you'll have the heads off, you might as well port and polish the runners, do a valvejob (bigger valves!), and uhh.. "Since you're in it this far" going to the trouble of poppin pins and removing pistons to do the rings, you might as well crack the block and pop in some fresh bearings... oh yeah, also now's the perfect time to install a custom ground cam to make a lumpy idle and 50 extra horsepower between 0 and 900rpm. Eventually, you'll end up with a new motor, and no money to put gas in it. Basically, its the roundabout way of saying its up to you. Unless I see scoring or irregular wear on the cylinder walls (which you should see if rings are the culprit), I personally see no point in poppin rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffroid Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 I don't know much compared to some of the long-time posters on this board, but for the sake of discussion I'll throw my 2 cents in. A difference in 20 psi between cylinders doesn't seem like much to me for an engine with that kind of mileage. Do you have any other symptoms of a leaking head gasket? Water in the oil, bubbles in the coolant, loosing all your coolant, white smoke, etc. ? ? ? I don't know, but I'd guess that a lot of us are driving around with differences in compression from cylinder to cylinder at least that high. If I was you I'd figure out for sure if that's what was causing the missing on one cylinder before I yanked the heads off. As for your valves you need to figure out if you have hydraulic lifters or not. There has been much discussion on this topic, you should be able to figure it out by doing a search. No offense to anyone, just throwing this up for further discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 in my mind, doing the rings is considerably more work than just throwing on a new set of headgaskets... of course I'm lazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 Raven is right. There's no need to get too involved. Examine the piston sleeve when you have your heads off. If its a blown head gasket it will be apparent when you remove the head. Im not sure if youve seen this pic yet, but this is from a car with a bad headgasket: and this is what I found when I pulled the head off: You can see wich piston it was that had the blown gasket. It had been driven long enough for the water jacket to leak water into the oil chamber and thats where the milkshake came from. I paid $97 for a EA81 complete engine gasket kit from Napa and spent 2 weeks (with a full time job) rebuilding the top end. I had thought about doing my rings too... but like Raven said, if I were to do my rings I might as well do the crank bearings as well. And I wasnt prepared to split the block and spend an extra 4 weeks trying to get it all back together. oh... and this is what I found when I removed the other head from the block: I doubt your engine has gotten this bad yet. Unless you have clouds of blue smoke comming out the tail pipe, dont worry so much about your rings. -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RavenTBK Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 Im not sure if youve seen this pic yet, but this is from a car with a bad headgasket: I needed a good laugh today. That image did it. That is, without a doubt, the absolute worst head gasket blowing I've ever seen. I probably would've wet myself if I pulled the drain plug and saw that coming out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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