Compression Low

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

damoc180

New Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
7
Car
W202 C180 Elegance
So, i went to start the car last night. It compressed once then sounded like it lost pressure when cranking. Oh fun...Went to a friend to borrow a compression tester and sure enough, 30 psi on cyl 1, nothing on cyl 2. By this point i was getting very wet in the rain in my drive and decided to call it a day and reluctantly borrow a Nissan =[
I am thinking possible head gasket, but i am just hoping its nothing more serious than that. Dont get me wrong, the car is worth spending the money on to get it right but i just dont want to break the bank repairing it. Good thing is i can do it myself i suppose so i will save some money on the labour costs =/ Its just gonna be a case of fitting it in between other jobs. Wont get started till moday now anyway, or even picked up and taken to work =[

I was looking forward to my first proper drive out in it today. Ive had it 6 weeks and not really been anywhere. Oh well, ill have to find other means of getting to Edinburgh. Something tells me im going in the Nissan =/ Better than the train, though
 
Are you sure its a head gasket? i would do a wet test also and if you have the facilities also do a leak down test too. I would hazard a guess at a burnt valve as no compression. Taken your figures if it was a head gasket then the coolant would gush out of the header tank.
 
It could be blown between cylinders 1 & 2 though, hence no coolant leak and it's unlikely a burned valve would suddenly become a problem.
 
Surely it would need two burnt valves for the compression to be down on two cylinders?
 
CHG failure pretty common on these engines at high miles- if you do take it off examine the head for signs of erosion / porosity-- use new cylinder head bolts ---the early ones were inclined to stretch and make sure you have a good puller to remove the pin holding the timing chain guide to the cylinder head.

ps use only the pukka MB head gasket -- made by Victor Reinz http://www.reinz.de/root/eng/aftermarket_496_ENG_HTML.php#
 
Last edited:
Well I am only saying head gasket provisionally. I just cant imagine sudden valve problems ine two cylinders suddenly, at the same time, unless the chain has jumped =[ (fingers crossed)
Started stripping it today, just the chain to get off and the head should be out tomorow. Will know more then
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom