Compression? How good is good?

**trd-st162** · 03-05-2006, 07:47 PM

Hey everyone.
I'm selling one of my cars,
The only condition left to sell the car is whether or not it has reasonable compression for a mechanic to say its ok?

How stuffed does an engine have to be to be HORRIBLE?
My 3sge is in great nick, 220,000kms on it, but yea I'm sure it will do well.

Would the car even run if it was unexceptable?

Will it most likely pass their check?
What are some tell tail signs? using oil etc?
Thanx

**slide86** · 03-05-2006, 08:14 PM

if the car is running fine and doesnt blow smoke then you should be fine.

symptoms would include running rough, blowing heaps of smoke, using water.

but if it was doing this then i doubt you would be able to find a buyer! i think you should be fine, it would definetly be noticable if you were down on compression on a cylinder

**trd-st162** · 03-05-2006, 09:40 PM

Ahhh awesome,
yeah i was thinkin along those lines
It doesn't seem to be taking in any water from the coolant,
It burns a bit of smoke but it doesn't seem to be very much at all.
It runs beautifully,
Doesn't missfire

Funniest, the guy came to have a look at the car, and hes like "whats the wire hanging" and it was my o2 sensor, broke off from the plug not the o2 sensor haha
Have to fix it

**AndyTTR** · 03-05-2006, 09:55 PM

According to the Haynes manual, for a 3SGE,

standard compression: 178psi
minimum conpression: 142psi

Hope that helps.

**trd-st162** · 03-05-2006, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by AndyTTR

According to the Haynes manual, for a 3SGE,

standard compression: 178psi
minimum conpression: 142psi

Hope that helps.

This sort of behaviour is not tolerated on the forums

Thanks mate much appreciated, What happens if i get 141? hehe

It should do well though,

The last question is does anyone know how much they cost to get done if i did it instead of the buyer to speed up the process?

**EldarO** · 03-05-2006, 11:53 PM

go down to kmart, grrab a compression tester kit for 15 bucks...

i know they have them, because i stocked them back up on monday

that said, speedworks down here in Perth charged a mate $80 for a compression + leakdown test, full result printout included.

Eldar.O.

**TooF** · 04-05-2006, 08:00 AM

the biggest thing is that the compression is even across all 4 clys.

if you get 180 on 3 and 140 on 1 then the enigne is pretty much dogged

but if you were yo get 145 on all 4 +/- 5psi then it should be fine.

my thought would be to go and buy a compression tester as said above they are pretty cheap. and test it infront of the buyer. and if you want to dodgy brohters it up.. if the compression is a little low when you test it before they come over drop a tiny splash of light oil into the cly's this will help out any compression loss from the bottom end, any loss from the valve train will still be there though.. that said its a pretty dodgy brothers approach.

oh and one more suggestion.... if your compression tester dosent have the correct fitting straight on it... ie: you need to use one of the adaptors (using the adaptor is legitiamte enough) but my suggestion... a few drops of loctite in the thread or otherwise you'll test the cly then try to undo the tester and the hose will unscrew off the adaptor leaving the adaptor in the head. a real pain and making you look kinda of dopey.

and i know if you did this in the 5sfe head it would be an absolute nightmare casue you couldnt get pliers etc to it.. i thin kthe 3sge is pretty similar as far as access to that spot. the 4age is much easier but still a nuisance. what ive done to my tester adaptor is to grind the round edge back so a single hex socket can fit on it and that way if it does get stuck i can just grab it back out with a socket. alternativly cut a notch so you can unscrew it with a big screw driver.