Mit. challanger 1997 compression reading

Low compression on cylinder number 1 and cylinder number 2 on a 2000 Toyota Solara 2.2L engine could be caused by a few different issues. Here are a few possibilities:

1. Worn or damaged piston rings: The piston rings seal the combustion chamber and maintain compression. If the rings are worn or damaged, they may not be able to seal the combustion chamber properly, resulting in low compression.
2. Damaged or worn valves: The valves allow air and fuel to enter the combustion chamber, and allow exhaust gases to exit. If the valves are damaged or worn, they may not be able to seal the combustion chamber properly, resulting in low compression.
3. Damaged or worn cylinder walls: The cylinder walls are what the pistons move against. If the walls are damaged or worn, they may not be able to maintain proper compression.
4. Head gasket failure: The head gasket seals the combustion chamber and prevents compression from escaping. If the head gasket is damaged or blown, compression can escape, resulting in low compression.
5. Leak in the intake or exhaust system: a leak in the intake or exhaust system can cause low compression.

The dry compression test you did on cylinder 1 and 2, 80 PSI and 60 PSI respectively, are not within the normal range and indicate low compression. The wet compression test results are also not within the normal range, 95 PSI and 85

It can vary between make and model of car. However, a general rule of thumb is that 135+ average is okay. Less than 85psi is pointing at something seriously amiss in the engine.

It can vary - some cars may have 125psi as 'average' compression.

Don't expect each cylinder to give the same compression reading as there will be a fluctuation. Another general rule of thumb is that there shouldn't be more than 10% variation between the readings. That is, if cylinder No1 is 135 psi, cylinder No2 shouldn't be less than '125 ish'.

If you suspect you may have compression issues, it's quite easy to do a bit of fault finding. Warm the engine first so that the pistons are expanded in the cylinders. Then do a dry compression (normal) test.

Here's some examples of compression tests on a 4 cylinder engine:
130 127 129 127

All compression readings are within 10% of each other. Fine.

Example 2:
95 95 129 127
Here, a low compression reading on cylinder 1 and 2 suggests a problem. It may be due to a faulty head gasket/cylinder head allowing compressed gases to be transferred via the defective head gasket from one cylinder to another.

Example 3:
130 80 129 127
Cylinder No2 has a problem. It's compression is way down. The other three cylinders are fine. So .. what is the cause of the low compression on cylinder 2? It could be a broken ring/cracked piston or a burnt exhaust valve.

This is where you do a second compression test - called the 'wet' test.

Squirt some light engine oil into each cylinder. Aim for the cylinder walls so that the oil can find its way down the walls and around the piston rings. Place a rag over each spark plug hole and spin the engine to expel excess oil.

The oil that you have sprayed into each cylinder will form a 'seal' around the piston ring. Do another compression test and note down the readings. Here's example 3 again:
Example 3:
130 80 129 127
.. with the low compression on cylinder 2.

If after carrying out the 'wet' compression test you have a reading along the lines of
130 100 129 127
suggests that the bore/piston rings in cylinder 2 are at fault. The compression has increased on No2 cylinder because of the oil forming a seal around the rings.

If there is no increase in psi on the wet test i.e
130 80 129 127
This suggests a burnt exhaust valve.

Are you sure it's actually a plug?
Are you getting oil on the plug?
The plug may be firing but you may be losing compression which gives the symptoms of a misfire. As you've changed the plug, lead and coil this points to to a problem elsewhere.

Your first course of action should be to get a mobile mechanic carry out a diagnostic check for you.

To put your mind at rest, do a 2nd compression test using a light oil squirted into the bores:

Doing a Compression Test
Warm the engine. Remove all the spark plugs.
Get a pencil and piece of paper to note down the readings.
Put the compression tester into the No1 cylinder and crank the engine for 10 seconds.
Note down the compression reading.
Repeat process for all cylinders.

Here's an illustration of what you may expect on a 4 cylinder engine:
Cylinder 1 2 3 4
psi 125 122 120 124

125 is the uppermost figure for that engine. Here, this engine is fine. There's a slight variation in psi figures, but that's perfectly normal.

Here's the same engine:
Cylinder 1 2 3 4
psi 110 112 114 112

The psi reading is down. However, as all the figures are pretty much equal it doesn't indicate head /gasket problems. It may point towards worn pistons or burnt valves.

Now consider these psi readings:
Cylinder 1 2 3 4
psi 125 84 86 124

There's more than a 10% drop - a difference - between cylinder 1 and 2, and cylinders 3 and 4.
The compression readings for cylinders 2 and 3 is down; low. There's something clearly wrong.

It suggests that there is a defective head gasket between cylinders 2 and 3 or a crack in the cylinder head. The rising piston compresses the gases which escape into the adjoining cylinder via the defective gasket or cracked head.

However, it could also mean that there is a problem with the valves (burnt/not seating properly) or perhaps piston / ring problems.

A burnt valve - it's usually the exhaust valve as they bear the brunt of the combustion - can cause a reduction in engine power simply because the combustion process isn't occurring properly. Compressed air/fuel gets squeezed out of that cylinder because of the damaged valve . There even may be a misfire - a surge as the car runs.

Worn or broken piston rings allow compressed gases to leak past into the crankcase. A compressed crankcase can force oil out of the dipstick tube. The pressure in the crankcase will leak to atmosphere anywhere it can find an outlet.

The 2nd Compression Test
The second compression test is known as a 'wet test'. The first compression test was the dry test because no oil was added to the bores. The second 'wet' test can give an indication of whether it is the rings or valves at fault (though bear in mind rings and valves do not cause overheating or water in the coolant symptoms).

Spray a liberal amount of light penetrating oil into each cylinder - aim for the cylinder walls, not the centre of the piston. You want the oil to run down the cylinder wall and around the piston to form a seal.

Place a rag over each spark plug hole and spin the engine to eject the surplus oil.

Then carry out a full compression test noting down the results.

Here's the previous results with the 2nd compression readings added:
Cylinder 1 2 3 4
psi 125 84 86 124
Wet 128 112 110 126

The readings have increased. This because the oil sprayed into the bores has formed a temporary seal around the piston, thereby enabling the compression to be raised. It also indicates that the bores/rings are worn on cylinder 2 and 3 - the 'oil seal' has increased the readings but is still low in comparison with cylinders 1 and 2.

This could also indicate that in addition to worn rings there is also burnt valves. Oil cannot form a seal around a valve. A worn or split valve will cause a low compression reading and misfiring symptoms.
Compressions readings should be taken in conjunction with other symptoms. It will help you identify the problem:

Low compression readings between two adjoining cylinders point towards a head gasket/head fault if your vehicle has shown signs of coolant loss, coolant in the oil system - mayonnaise, overheating, rough running and lack of power.

If those symptoms are not present it points towards burnt valves/piston rings. A worn engine may be difficult to start and pressurise the crankcase, but it doesn't cause overheating problems.

If the misfire is on one a particular cylinder or perhaps 2, these issues need to be addressed and checked...
1. Power to the spark plug.
2. Coils and spark plug condition.
3. Fuel supply to the cylinder
4. Air supply to the cylinder
5. Correct fuel/ air mixture to the cylinder
6. Cylinder compression. Low compression or a cylinder compression level below spec will result in a misfire. If the compression tester shows low compression in a cylinder the causes of the poor compression reading then need to be addressed.

The fault codes generated by the computer and read by an appropriate scanner will tell you which cylinder or cylinders are misfiring.

in the combustion chamber or in the water jackets surrounding cylinders,
the former is a great question at MIT, engineering department, asked an calculated, easy, depends on CR, compression ratio and fuel mix. 2000 to 3000F is common.

water jackets, are 180F or more, (read stamp on your thermostat.
the exhaust ports are near 1000F, and more up hills
buy an EGT gauge, like pilots have,.

i answered 3 ways,

compression readings will be the same as a natural aspirated engine readings Lowest will be 120 psi the highest around 170psi but what ever you get there should not be any more than 10% difference between readings. The turbo doesn't come into it as the compression test is done with no plugs in and at crank speed

Probably burnt valves. Did you do a 'wet' compression test?

Bad valve's will not burn oil, bad valve will cause a cylinder miss fire, due to you will loose cylinder compression, I would replace the valve seal's, Also do a wet and dry compression test, do a dry test, and write down reading's, then add oil in cylinder, and do another compression test, if in any cylinder's compression jumps higher then dry test, that's where your loosing oil, weak piston ring's.

You may have a burnt valve or a stuck valve. Also the the compression rings on the piston maybe bad. I'd do a compression test on the cylinders. If you have a cylinder with a low reading, you can squirt some oil into the cylinder, and check the compression again, if it increases, it's probablly the rings are bad.

Get a Compression tester.Its easy to do. Remove the plug and screw this in to the spark plug hole and disable the ignition system by pulling the ECM fuse. Crank the engine for 5 seconds and stop. Check the gauge. It should show 150 psi or close to it. If it shows under that check some of the other cylinders and see if they read the same thing. If they give a better reading then you could have a bent valve, a blown head gasket or broken rings or even a hole in the piston. If your unsure then take it to a shop and have them run a compression test on it for you. And make sure you stay in the shop while they do it and see the reading for yourself.