BAD COMPRESSION....IS THIS THE END?

My '63 Fairlanne 500, 200, has a '68 (7-bolt) block & a '63
head with the adjustable rocker arm nut. The car idles
fairly good, does good on slow acceleration, but goes completely
haywire and pings on fast acceleration. has smoke coming out
of the iol filler tube. I did a compression check.

dry oil squirt
#1 125 125 psi
#2 20 25 psi (YES ! I can't believe it, checked it many times)
#3 150 150 psi
#4 125 140 psi
#5 135 140 psi
#6 125 125 psi

OK guys, give me the bad news. I can take it.
What can be done? Should I build it or scrap it?
What should I do?

Thanks

sure that the valve is out of adjustment and not closing all of the way?

Good idea, never thought of that.
I did attempt to adjust the valves
earlier. I may have tightened the
rocker arm nut too much causing
the valve not to seat properly.

Thanks

I may need to check all my valve adjustments.
Since the oil squirt didn't help compression.
I may improve all of my comp. numbers.

It may be a burnt valve. If the valve looks like it's operating properly and you still have no compression, you'll need to pull the head.

could be worse...

I was having trouble on my 292YBlock in my 64 F100. Did a comp check. The entire passenger side, yes, all 4 cylinders, 0 (well, almost 0).

lets see, we had 3 BADLY burnt valves, one that was practically cracked in 3 pieces, bad seats, chared pistons..need I go on?

do you have foamy coolant when shes running? Does it foam up more when you open the throttle?

I had the head off last week, for inspection, all valves
looked good with hardly any carbon just on 2 or 3.
They cleaned up ok. None looked cracked or burnt.

When I put head back on, I tried to adjust the valves
using the cam lobe recess method. May have #2
too tight.

Used felpro gasket, may explain why compression not
quite as high as should be on other cyl.

There was smoke coming out of the oil filler tube on my '65 200. It eneded up that the top ring on #6 was GONE!!!!

I put a rebuilt motor in and no smoke!!! I used Total Seal gapless 2nd ring and rehoned the cylinders. So far I have only performed the cam break in. But for your car, the smoke sounds like rings to me

What type of oil did you put into the cylinders? were the other spark plugs on the other cylinders when the compression test was performed? was the gas hose to the inlet side of the fuel pump disconnected? Maybe gasoline was sucked into the cylinders during the compression test and diluted the oil? just a thought

Mugsy

If you've got smoke out the oil filler, it's probably a stuck, or worse (and more likely), a broken ring. Does the smoke -chuf-chuf-chuf- out the filler hole?
First check for bad valves by doing a leakdown test.
If you have a compressor and don't have a twin gauge leakdown tester, get one, it'll be the best 75 bucks you spent on this problem. There are also many DIY plans on the internet for the Scottish folks. Nobody wants to tear apart an engine and then find out the low compression problem was just a piece of carbon under the exhaust valve, and could have been fixed with a few hammer taps on the butt of the offending valve. Used in different ways, a leakdown tester will also let you know if you have cylinder wall damage, the condition of the rings, bad intake or exhaust valves, or a blown head gasket. If there is a ton of leakdown, you can actually hear where the leak is in 95% of cases. I.e., hissing out the exhaust = exhaust valve trouble. Hissing in an adjacent cylinder, burbling in the radiator = head gasket. Hissing out the oil filler = broken or stuck rings, holed piston, etc.
If you are sure the valves are fine...
The budget way ($3.50 + about an hour of your time) to find out if the rings are either just stuck or busted on that particular piston, is to try the berryman test/fix. They're probably broken, but it's worth $3.50 to find out for sure.
Step 1, Buy a spray can of Berryman b12.
Step 2, DISCONNECT THE COIL POWER LEAD.
With the engine cold and car in the driveway (not the garage), pull the plug on the offending cylinder and squirt a quarter can or so of berryman b12 cleaner down the hole. Put the plug back in. Turn the engine slowly over BY HAND a few times. This will force the berryman into the ring grooves and around the rings. Pull the plug again and squirt in some more. Let it sit for a while (half hour or so).
Then, with the PLUG OUT and COIL POWER LEAD DISCONECTED, turn the engine over with the key. This will blow any remaining berryman out in a fine, extremely flammable cloud of fun. Now check the compression, if the ring is broken, your numbers will probably be a bit lower than before, bad luck, you'll have to, at the very least, pull that piston. If the ring was just crudded up, your numbers should be way up. Dance around wildly, have a beer in honor of your good fortune. Then change the oil.
Rick(wrench)

The smoke coming out is a steady flow, but not at idle, just at high rpm
and under load. Does not seem to come out at cruising either.

Under load it misses and pings.

sounds like a head gasket

the end is the beginning is the end

Pretty sure not the head gasket, was doing this before I removed the
head. replaced with new gasket and properly torqued.

If I ever do decide to get another 200 engine, what years
and what types of cars are compatable with my
ford-o-matic?

example '65-'70 mustang, granada, etc......

A good way to check if the valaes are sealing is to hook up a vaccume gage and if the needle bounces a lot; bad valves.

Take a dollar bill and place against the exh tip while idling. If it blows away from exh, it's fine, if it sucks back into the tailpipe (making a puck, puck, puck, sound ) it's a burnt valve. The intake stroke will suck air through the exh valve and you will feel it at the tailpipe.


Crap, I just dated myself.....yes I'm old......

goinbroke2, thanks for that tip. I've got an '85 F150 that's been acting up lately. It started making that puck, puck, puck sound. It also goes put, put, put whenever I take my foot off the accelerator quickly. Not all the time but most of the time. I have eliminated all potential exhaust leaks (new gaskets and such) but I'm still getttig that sound.

Oh well...I can't worry about that right now. I need to finish the Mustang and get it on the road.



-Chris

Thanks goinbroke2

I done the dollar bill thing (had to use a five) and it just
blowed it outward.

I did an experiment. I took the push rods out at the #2 piston
and put the valve cover back on. Cranked it up. Still idled good.

There was no smoke or anything coming out of the filler tube.
I drove it and no pinging. It has decent power. I'm running
on five cylinders.

Would this most likely mean the rings?
Is it OK to drive it for a while?

Many Thanks

Fairlane Fixer, you are going to be running temporarly on five cylinders be sure to disconnect that spark plug wire. Just to be safe. Otherwise, that should be okay for awhile. And yes, it sounds like you have confirmed bad rings.

I don't the differences between your car and my Mustang (other than the obvious) but with my car, rings can be changed out without removing the engine. A cross member must be removed, then the oil pan and finally you should have access to the crankshaft and pistons from that point on. It's just a matter of disconnecting the main bearing bolts and carefully pulling out the piston.



-Chris

Sounds good to me.

I want to thank everyone for their help with my problems.
This is the best and most informative forum that I've ever
been associated with.

There is a great deal of expert advice that could save the
average person a great deal of time & money.

Thanks Again,

FAIRLANE FIXER

I'm thinking about the advice to pull the spark plug wire to the low pressure cylinder- I'm not sure that's such a good thing- maybe it helps take the load off a cylinder with bad rings or valves, but since fuel/air mixture is still going to be going in and out of that cylinder, isn't it best that it's burned instead of left to wash out a cylinder wall, pass the rings and get down into the oil, pass out the exhaust valve unburned causing possible post cylinder burning and maybe even explosive combustion further down the exhaust system (like in the muffler)? I had some wires go bad before and I didn't realize it until my muffler exploded due to unburned fuel accumulations.