O.T. Sudden loss of compression


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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.28] on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 18:49:11 :

This one has me stumped. I've had a pair of old Honda civics in my boneyard for 3+ years now and it's time to get rid of them. The good one has a transmission that's going bad, and a somewhat tired engine, but ran when parked. The bad one is mostly intact, has a good transmission, and a very tired engine that turned over when parked. I've cannibalized various things off the parts car over the years, but intended to get the good one running and sell the package as a mechanic's special so someone else can swap the trannies and part out the parts car.

Here's the weird part. The last time I drove the good one, I took it on a long (~3000 mile) road trip. It definitely sucked some oil into the cylinders going down long hills under compression, but it ran fine and got home without any problem except the transmission getting noisier and noisier. The engine didn't have its original power but it was firing on all cylinders and not smoking or anything. I parked it for only a few hours, then went to move it into the back parking lot and it wouldn't start. The starter spun, but the engine sounded free-wheeling, and without even looking to see if the belt was turning, I assumed it was the starter and I swapped the starter off the parts car onto it. It made no difference, so I pushed it into the back lot and left it.

After several winters have taken their toll on it, I got serious about trying to get it running yesterday. Crankshaft and cam turn just fine. Spark plug spark, as indicted by a timing light clamped over each wire. Pouring gas down the air intake (fuel injected) does not even get one "pop" out of it. Compression is 120, 50, 20, 15. There is no coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant. Spark plugs are dry.

What could cause the compression in 3 cylinders to suddenly drop to essentially nothing just from parking it for a couple hours? Not sure how much I want to get into this, including pulling the head, but I know if I could just get the good one running, it would be worth a whole lot more than it is dead.



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