0 Compression on #1

[Raymond Bunch]

Guys/Gals

I believe, I blew a headgasket while racing at Armdrop Live this past Friday.

We'll today I got the car home and did a compression check on all cylinders and one really stuck out. It was at zero compression, I would think even with a blown head gasket there should be a little compression right

Worst case scenario, I may have melted the #1 piston and/or broke some rings in that cylinder. I say this because after the run I had oil all over the engine that came out the breathers. Blowby comes to mind right off the bat seeing this.

These are my compression readings. I still assume a headgasket was blown between/around 1-3 due to #3 being at 122.

#1 - 0
#2 - 145
#3 - 122
#4 - 144
#5 - 145
#6 - 145

I'll tear it down over the next couple of day's, and will let you all know what I find. Also, I had no milk shake in the oil or contaminates in the radiator. The car didn't run hot either. Bent valve?

Thanks in advance for your help guys.

Ray

 

[pdzz]

You could back off the rockers and put some air into the cylinder. Listen to see where it comes from, intake, exhaust, crankcase, or #3 cylinder. Phil.

 

[19TTA89]

I have seen 0 compression readings from a blown headgasket...And being #3 is down also,I would think that is definitely the case.

 

[Rodney87GN]

I've also blown a headgasket and got no milkshake or overheating...just sounded like crap limping it home. The #4 blew out towards the headers where there are no oil or water passages.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Gasket is blown into lifter galley...
#1 being past the fpr could have leaned that cyl, and POOF!

 

[novaderrik]

when i got my car, it was smoking out the valve cover breather and running like crap. the head gasket was blown out just like the pic above, but it was blown out between the two front cyilinders and the lifter valley and nowhere near a water jacket.
both of those cylinders had zero compression, so i pulled that head off first, thinking it had a couple of holey pistons or something. nope- just a head gasket that blew due to the heads on the replacement long block that was installed back in '91 not being torqued down- i took both heads off with my trusty Craftsman 3/8" ratchet. the car sat for almost 13 years with what the owner thought was a blown piston, so he sold me the car for $2000. i got the car on Friday, got it running on Sunday, and took a drive with it to show the guy i got it from on Tuesday. he offered to buy the car back from me for what i paid for it, and when i told him that it was worth at least double that, he started yelling at me and accusing me of ripping him off when i bought it from him, and then chased me off his used car lot and told me to never come back...

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Key words being...

"he started yelling at me and accusing me of ripping him off when i bought it from him, and then chased me off his used car lot"...
He got it for the tow bill, when he skrewed another uninformed TR owner...What goes around, comes around!!
Poetic justice at it's best!!

 

[Raymond Bunch]

Gasket is blown into lifter galley...
#1 being past the fpr could have leaned that cyl, and POOF!

Thank you for the replies fella's! Chuck, I thought the same thing but wasn't forsure, hopefully it will be something as simple as this. Although, I had SCE copper head gaskets, hope it didn't damage the head or anything. Has anyone ever blown an SCE headgasket before or heard anything about someone doing so? I'll start the tear down today after work, didn't have a chance yesterday.

 

[novaderrik]

"he started yelling at me and accusing me of ripping him off when i bought it from him, and then chased me off his used car lot"...
He got it for the tow bill, when he skrewed another uninformed TR owner...What goes around, comes around!!
Poetic justice at it's best!!

the sad thing is that the car sat on his lot for 13 years with what he thought was a blown piston- one of the things he told me was that it would be a great car to put a small block in. and this guy was no dummy- he builds his own engines for his 8 second Super Comp dragster, but was afraid of tearing into a tiny V6 with a few electronic sensors and a turbo. hell, i'd never even seen a Hot Air before i got the car and had minimal late model experience- and i had it torn down within a couple of hours of getting it home.

 

[1chance]

Had the same thing happen monday when i started the car to go to work, anyway after pulling the intake, and starting to pull the heads, i found that the valve spring on the #4cyl had broken on the exht. I had already pulled it down, so i pulled the heads to look at the HGs, they were fine, waiting on the spring, also i installed seals on the exhaust valves to see if that would stop the smoke on start up when car is hot!

 

[Raymond Bunch]

I made a little progress last night after work. I got the intake off and didn't see the headgasket blown inward/toward the lifer galley like I thought it would be. I also didn't see anything out of the norm for that matter. Guess I will go ahead and take the head off and see if it might have blown between the #1 and #3, If not. It's probably going to be the rings/piston….more to come.

Anyother Ideas?

 

[cruzn57]

Ray

sorry to hear that,
I'm sure you've been down that road before, still doesn't make it any better.
let us know what you find, and good luck, (my luck it'd be a cracked block)

 

[DCVING 6]

subscribing.

 

[Raymond Bunch]

Found The Problem Guys!

Just finished taking the head off the driver side and it was cracked right down the middle with the center piece "chunk" missingin the piston itself. It's probably still attached to the rod. :redface: Guess I'll be pulling it out and going through it. Positive note, I wanted to go through the engine compartment anyhow and make it nice. Here are a couple pics if i can get them to down load.

Has anyone ever heard of a piston doing this?

Ohhh, also...The SCE looked ok for the most part. The #3 cylinder had a slight oval shape. Might have been leaking due to having only 122 compression reading.

Ray

 

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Damn, sorry to see that

 

[dank GN]

All my compression readings are low 1=135 2=132 3=136 4=139 5=120 6=141 does that mean all my pistions are cracked like that? what can cause all my readings to be so low? she still runs but idles crap? HELP?

 

[DailyDrifter]

All my compression readings are low 1=135 2=132 3=136 4=139 5=120 6=141 does that mean all my pistions are cracked like that? what can cause all my readings to be so low? she still runs but idles crap? HELP?

Your pistons are not the problem. Those numbers are fine, your engine is a little "seasoned" though.

 

[dank GN]

I plan on putting new head gaskets on her do you guys think it will raise my compression numbers?

 

[Turbo1dr]

Just fin

Ray

That piston was cracked first by detonation or a very violent "pop". Then you must have ran the car again (without knowing it was cracked) and the combustion started acting like a blow torch and melted the piston. That's what happened to me one time....violent pop on one run and then I ran again and got a piston that looked just like yours...

 

[Scott Atk]

Cylinder wall looks really good. All you need is find somebody with a spare piston. A bottle brush hone, a fresh rod bearing, and an oil pan gasket. You could be back running by the weekend.
Check out this thread.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/general-turbo-buick-tech/169220-pics-vegas-carnage.html
Len Freeman had a spare piston already hung on a rod. I threw it all back together while the motor was still in the car. Ran several more 9 second passes over the next two years until this happened.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/turbo-lounge/190243-some-cool-carnage-pics-my-motor.html