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If you used a GE gasket you should have higher compression readings. If those were wet numbers with oil added then you could have a ring issue.
I guess you could also have an issue with valve clearance if they were mixed up and not checked, its always trickier using a head you didn't just pull off of a motor.
With the cylinder head off ebay, unless it was rebuilt chances are the valve stem seals are old and if not replaced they will leak oil into the cylinders usually after shut down.
That would cause the carbon issue but your numbers would be higher not lower, so makes me think something else now.
Cam seal leak on the front is all external, that won't get into the cylinders. If this motor has power adders also at some point then it could be worn now.
There's a possibility the gasket set was packaged incorrectly or they sent the wrong one and I didn't check it, not ruling that out but that's the one I ordered.
Compression gauge is a cheap Chinese one from Amazon. Could be wrong incorrectly calibrated, but it was consistent at least.
Also to note that a few weeks ago when I took that picture of cyl #1 the piston top was clean and when I took that picture a couple days ago it is all brown and crusty looking.
WTF ahhhhhhhh I don't know what the problem is.
Also there's DEFINETLY a slight gas smell when driving/parking.
I checked the injectors with a screwdriver and made sure they are firing by feeling the tap, but maybe they are firing too long?
Could a bad vacuum leak somewhere be causing the extra fuel? I made a homemade smoke machine going to check and smoke the intake out when it's less windy, maybe tonight or tomorrow.
ECU capacitor replacement time? Another thing to check.
Update and pretty sure it's nothing ignition related at this point. A few days ago I did a OBD scan and saw the preemptive misfire codes again but still not enough to trigger CEL.
First off I ordered new plug wires (NGK 6402) and it soon became apparent how worn out my 7 year old wires were. The new boots were stiff /tigher and 'popped' when I put them on, and the wire housing was much better quality than the generic Denso I had before.
COMPRESSION TEST WAS DONE WRONG - REDID ON 3/29/21
Also checked- :
FPR VSV - 36ohm (range: 33-39) and 12v makes it click so OK there
EGR VSV - 41ohm (range: 38-44)
MAF THA+E2 - 2.5ohm (range: 2-3ohm)
O2 Front - 15.5ohm (range cap is 16ohm, so I don't know if this a point of concern?)
O2 Rear - 15.9ohm
Here's an image of plug #4
Images of the O2 sensors - remember I had ran seafoam through this engine so I wonder if that's the green color? My coolant is Toyota OWM red BTW so unless there's some weird color change I don't think it's a HG leak front / rear O2 sensors
NOW-
Here's the confusing part -
WHY IS THERE OIL IN THE #6 CYLINDER HOLE?! I changed the oil about 2 weeks ago and I wonder if it's overfill or the VC gaskets are bad? Or what? Is was NOT inside the actual plug hole just the upper chamber. WHY??
I put everything back together and still felt what I think is the same minor misfire.
Update and pretty sure it's nothing ignition related at this point. A few days ago I did a OBD scan and saw the preemptive misfire codes again but still not enough to trigger CEL.
First off I ordered new plug wires (NGK 6402) and it soon became apparent how worn out my 7 year old wires were. The new boots were stiff /tigher and 'popped' when I put them on, and the wire housing was much better quality than the generic Denso I had before.
I checked compression on Cyls #4 and 5 since I didn't do that before
Cyl4 155 psi
Cyl5 155 psi
So this is within 5 psi for all other cylinders - but I didn't recheck them all today just 4 and 5.
Also checked- :
FPR VSV - 36ohm (range: 33-39) and 12v makes it click so OK there
EGR VSV - 41ohm (range: 38-44)
MAF THA+E2 - 2.5ohm (range: 2-3ohm)
O2 Front - 15.5ohm (range cap is 16ohm, so I don't know if this a point of concern?)
O2 Rear - 15.9ohm
Here's an image of plug #4
Images of the O2 sensors - remember I had ran seafoam through this engine so I wonder if that's the green color? My coolant is Toyota OWM red BTW so unless there's some weird color change I don't think it's a HG leak front / rear O2 sensors
NOW-
Here's the confusing part -
WHY IS THERE OIL IN THE #6 CYLINDER HOLE?! I changed the oil about 2 weeks ago and I wonder if it's overfill or the VC gaskets are bad? Or what? WHY??
I put everything back together and still felt what I think is the same minor misfire.
i had the same thing with oil in a cylinder. It was my valve cover gasket.
When I checked my oil the line is full to the top so I think I possibly overfilled it, oops. But that's unconnected to the misfire since it was happening before I changed the oil.
There are several things that could be causing your issue, but the 150psi is one thing that isn’t making sense. I don’t know what could cause an equal loss of compression unless as other have suggested there was something unusual about the head or head gasket, or just something off with the compression gauge. Maybe somebody you know has a leak down tester you could use to see what is going on.
The other issue is the smell of fuel. One of the things I like to do is send my injectors off to be cleaned and flow tested. Usually costs about $30/ea. I had one dumping fuel a while back and you would think you would see that on the plug but it wasn’t as obvious as I thought it would be. Not saying that is your issue, just a good practice on old injectors.
None of that helps you much but you have done about all you can do from the outside other than ecu change or rebuild.
Is removing all of the other plugs necessary? Like if I'm jus chekcing cyl #1, I only need to remove that plug right? When instructions say to remove all plugs, it's just because they expect you to check all the cylinders at the same time and it's a matter of sequence rather than something to do with the other plugs affecting the reading? Cus if I get the same 155PSI with all plugs removed then I'm correct.
I'm also doing 3 "cranks", maybe I should do 4-5?
I have EFI fuse pulled as well to prevent injectors from spraying.
Is removing all of the other plugs necessary? Like if I'm jus chekcing cyl #1, I only need to remove that plug right? When instructions say to remove all plugs, it's just because they expect you to check all the cylinders at the same time and it's a matter of sequence rather than something to do with the other plugs affecting the reading? Cus if I get the same 155PSI with all plugs removed then I'm correct.
I'm also doing 3 "cranks", maybe I should do 4-5?
I have EFI fuse pulled as well to prevent injectors from spraying.
I wish I had another gauge to verify with.
Yeah I would say pulling all plugs is necessary. Helps spin the engine over better without them in. I would spin it over more and see what you get.
Those compression number are fine. it''l run with anything over 120. Its more important that they are within 5-10% of each other. Preferably 5 %
Its probably just some bad gas you have in there. I wouldn't worry about 1 or 2 misfires on the counter at all... its not enough to trigger a check engine light and it could be false readings from your knock sensors...
Throw some good quaility premium in there and do your valve cover gaskets. Make sure your not spilling a bit of oil into number 1 when your filling your oil through the cap there is a little seal that leaks and lets oil go down towards cylinder 1 and 2 spark plugs.
That plug is full of black carbon on the tip also, looks again like an excess oil or gas situation.
You should have all the plugs out on the test, it might raise the numbers a little, but they are still off by like 40 psi.
I would confirm the engine is in time, mark on the crank 0 and the mark on the cams pointing straight up at the notches in the cover.
The oil in the back is most likely the valve cover gasket again, if it was from filling the oil it would be more likely to pool on that front 1-2 cylinder area.
Being off 1 tooth is a possibility since my grandfather turned the cams and set the belt. We did check timing with a light and it was set to 10 with TE1-E1. But still could be off a tooth. This was about 5 years ago now, so it's been off 1 tooth it's been off for 5 years.
If you haven't checked it since then I would say it is worth a quick check, it is pretty easy just need the right socket.
If the cams were off one or more teeth that could affect your compression which could cause the stuff you are dealing with over time.
You need a 22mm socket (1/2" drive) and a (1/2" drive) breaker bar or a torque wrench to turn the crank.
turn it till it lines up with zero and the white mark or notch on the crank pulley if I remember right, and check if cam marks are pointing up at the cover.
if not you turn the crank around one more time, now the cam marks should be pointing up, and then you see how close they are to the notch.
You just have to pull the top front cover and turn the crank a few times and you will know. that could be where the low compression and buildup is coming from if it is off.
If it is all lined up at least you can eliminate that and check other stuff.
If they are out of alignment that can actually be fixed without taking everything off, it takes more patience but you can adjust it by just pulling the belt tensioner from underneath.
OK I was able to drive a longer distance today about 20 miles total after replacing the plug wires and the TB gasket. Ran some numbers from the OBDLink enhanced Lexus codes-
I saw 2 misfires on the logs in cyl #1. The misfire gauge count resets every so often so the misfire was occurring at any speed not just 15mph. I saw it pop up with a 1 sometimes while going 50mph, and 1 going 5mph, so who knows?
03-09-21, 01:09 PM
