lizardbrain Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 A neighbor's 93 loyale has a pretty bad miss, with lots of low power. I pulled the plugs and they were all clean. Compression was down on number 1, about 120 psi, and all the others were 155 to 165. The car has 108,000 on it. Before I tell her it needs a head gasket, is there anything else to do to see if it really does need a head gasket? Also, one of the local mechanics changed the timing belts a while ago, could having the timing belt off a tooth cause it to have bad compression? I haven't driven it enough to see if it over heats, 'cause it runs so bad. Also has a pretty bad tick, louder than the normal lifter noise that I get out of my loyale. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 without coolant loss and overheating i would not assume the head gaskets are bad. of course it doesn't sound good, but that kind of info is important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardbrain Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 Thanks Gary, I'm going to go drive it. If nothing else, maybe she will sell it to me cheap, it does have 127,000 miles less than mine... Also needs a steering rack (leaking from one of the boots,) and the clutch needed adjustment bad. And that's just under the front end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 steering racks are really easy to replace, much simpler, quicker, and cheaper than head gaskets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 (edited) I wouldn't be concerned with the low cylinder other than to sugest that even with low mileage the car has likely been totally neglected with the low cylinder and the other issues you are seeing. 120k can be a lot of miles if the oil was only changed a couple times . Similarly, 200k can be relatively low if the engine was very well maintained and oil was always changed religiously. I just bought a '91 Legacy for $200 and was given every single receipt for work done on the car since it was new - all work done at the dealership. Engine runs like a top and has a ton of power. It's got 215k on it. Mileage is not always a good indicator - looking the previous owner up and down and seeing his home and personal car(s) is a much better indicator of condition frankly. It sounds like it's in bad need of a tune-up, possibly a belt is off a tooth, and all the other stuff you are seeing. That low cylinder is probably *not* a head gasket. It's probably a valve sealing issue or scored cylinder. Especially if the car doesn't overheat or lose coolant. That's also not low enough to even notice if the fuel and ignition systems are working properly. I have an EA81 with one cylinder at 130 and the rest at 165 - you wouldn't be able to tell unless you ran the test. It's got plenty of power (Weber), and idles smooth. I really don't think that's your issue. Typically with a bad head gasket you will see a cylinder that has 25 psi and the rest are normal...... that's a general rule but pretty typical of EA's that I've worked on. GD Edited December 12, 2009 by GeneralDisorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardbrain Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 Thank you guys. You're right about the head gasket, I drove it 10-12 miles on the highway, and the temp gauge came up to 1/4 and stayed there. No coolant loss either. Both of the ticks went away also. Still runs bad, with a surge. No check engine light, and it is there when the key in on, before it's started. Pulled all the plug wires, one at a time. and it ran worse with each one pulled. I checked the vacuum hoses (one not so good, changed it, no change), the pcv valve, the coil wire, and checked the timing. Couldn't see any timing marks with light, so I rolled the engine over until I found the marks, cleaned them up with sand paper and still couldn't see them with the light. It's not a great timing light, and it is bright outside, but I thought I should be able to at least see the shiny spot on the flywheel. I did have the green connectors plug together. Check the timing belt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Check the timing belt? Absolutely - check the belt and do a static adjustment of the distributor (to 20* BTDC) AFTER you verify or adjust the belt. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardbrain Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 Timing belt was on, had to use a mirror to see the drivers side. The distributor was off. I timed it and it runs better, but still has a big hesitation at about 2200 rpm (bad driveability in town). It cleans up above 3000 and has ok power. I put a liter of ethanol in the tank and I'll drive it again later today. It lives here (southern baja) year round, but only gets driven in the winter. The summers here are hot and humid, and I don't know how old the gas is. I can check the plug wires even though they look pretty new, and the plugs look new. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markjw Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Maybe check to see if someone has messed with the "mystery screw" or whatever we call it. It looks like a idle adjustment screw on the passenger side of the throttle body. It has white paint on it from the factory 'cause your Not suppose to mess with it. If you shine a good flashlight on the screw,you should be able to tell if its been turned in or out by the condition of the paint. Before I knew any better I adjusted mine and my car ran like crap at about 2000-2400 rmp and also idle like crap. Surged alot,too. I could never get it to run right again. In the end,I replaced that section of the throttle body/butterfly valve with a good one from the wrecking yard that hadn't been adjusted. My Loyale runs as good as new now. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagen Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 have a look at the rockers make sure none are broken or bent on #1 probably have a pass at the adjusters if there are any. My kid brothers car had both hyd and mechanical adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 possible the timing belt was off a tooth for the compression reading throttle position switch can be twitchy. coolant temp sensor will make the car run boggy. take off the outer covers on the timing belts, and find the III marks on the flywheel, three verticle lines. you will need to find the green test plugs to set your initial timing with a light, works the same in theory as removing the vacuum line from a mechanical distributor look on the usrm articles about timing belts and engine codes for ea82 spfi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 It sounds like it's in bad need of a tune-up, possibly a belt is off a tooth, and all the other stuff you are seeing. GD Yeah... that sounds like a tuneup. When mine was drinking a gallon of coolant every 20 miles, it still ran just fine, as long as you kept it topped off (I am not certain it was a head gasket... might have been an intake gasket -- I didn't know about that possibility at the time). My friend gave me her car ('87 GL wagon) to try to fix, and said the transmission was going out on it... actually, the clutch was badly adjusted, and the spark plugs were so bad that I can't believe it still ran at all -- no center contacts left on them.... transmission was perfectly fine as far as I could tell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardbrain Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 Thank you all. I'm starting another thread as I'm pretty sure it's not the head gasket. It's not losing coolant, and not overheating. It just runs bad. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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