Dead ZE - Need advice on what to do. - COMPRESSION RESULTS

[raidermaniac]

i'd be very interested in buying it also if you decide to sell

[Zoso124]

Here's what I do, start with number #6 or number #1 doesn't matter, pull that plug out, and thread the fitting into it. (Side Note: make sure the fitting and hose are real tight together so that when your unthreading the fitting from the cylinder you don't break the hose and fitting loose from each other, then you'll be in trouble) Next pull your fuel injector fuse in your engine compartment fuse box. I also like to pull the fuel pump relay next to the ECU but thats just me. Then go and crank it over for about 2-3 seconds and no longer. then go out and check to see how much compression built up, write it down, release the pressure, take it out, put the plug back in and go to the next cylinder. Not much too it, I'm sure it came with directions if that didn't make sense. Let us know what you come up with, we're all curious.

Good luck,

[V8KOMX3]

can't the v6 guys just unplug the wire under that back seat and run it till it dies? That cuts off the fuel

[Overclock]

So here are the results:

1-185
2-195
3-190
4-200
5-190
6-200


So what's it supposed to mean?

BTW- My prestone leaking also seems to periodically come out of somewhere near the engine. Can't tell where exactly but it's not visible from lifting the hood.

[babyblueMX3]

compression looks fine, not the best but it's good.
but can you detect a blown HG with compression numbers ? I didn't thought so.

[lakersfan1]

So here are the results:

1-185
2-195
3-190
4-200
5-190
6-200


So what's it supposed to mean?

That means your compression is perfectly fine. Your problem HAS to be in a fuel or spark problem, which is not the problem of the engine importer, it's yours. It could be something expensive like a bad distributor or fuel pump, or something as stupid as a sensor or plug not all the way plugged in. If you try pulling the codes, it'll tell you if there's a sensor not plugged in properly. And to illustrate, I messed with s--- for a month trying to get my KL swap to work. You know what it was the WHOLE time? The distrubutor plug wasn't plugged in ALLL the way. It needed to be shoved in another 1mm. It was so stupid, it pissed me off. But simple nonetheless.

[Overclock]

So what does the compression test tell us?

Another factor to consider is that the leaking seems to have gotten worse since the car overheated one day. This is normally a cause of blowing head gaskets right?

[Tunes67]

First.. sorry I havent been able to follow up on this with you as I wanted to when you started this thread. I have been dealing with issues with my truck and moving my GF in with me.. so I havent had a lot of spare time the past 2 weeks.

Second... If you were losing coolant because of a blown head gasket.. your compression test numbers wouldnt be nearly that decent. See if your losing coolant because of a blown head gasket.. There would be 2 different ways it would show up.. 1) you would see white smoke (and a lot of it out the tail pipe) also.. in such an occurance.. the compression reading of the cylinder where the coolant is burning would be much lower than all the rest of the cylinders. (your 185 reading being the lowest is still much too high for that to be evidence of a blown HG). This is because when on the compression stroke.. your engine would be shoving air/fuel back through the gap in the head gasket. 2) You would have oil and coolant mixing.. which would either show up on your oil dipstick or in your radiator as a milky tan colored fluid. Now in this scenario.. you wouldnt neccessarily see bad compression results.. but.. you would definately know because of the smell and color of your oil & coolant.

If you have a coolant leak and its not coming from any source you can pin point.. most likely its your water pump. Water Pumps have a small purge hole on the bottom of them that allows coolant to escape when the bearings of the water pump go bad. Its supposed to serve as "Warning indicator" that you need to replace your water pump. Thing is.. the amount of coolant that comes out of that tiny purge hole is very small.. so you rarely see steam from it and it can drip onto a hot exaust pipe and vaporize instantly.

Hope this helps

Tunes67

[Overclock]

OK well, I have to put 2-4 liters of water into the coolant system with every drive I take so this has to be more than the water pump, no?

I need serious help. My car is barely drivable and mechanics here have no clue what they're doing.

The local canadian tire guy suggested doing a "bubble test". Something to do with checking if there's carbon dioxide in the cooling system to verify for a blown HG.

If you're telling me the compression figures are far too high to indicate a dead HG then I'll pass on doing the test.

Couple of other things to mention which might help piece the puzzle together:
-The car idles at 1100-1400 rpms ever since my encounter with overheating.
-The left side coolant cap is always extremely hot when running while the right side coolant cap is often quite cool. No idea if that's normal.


Help!!!

[jschrauwen]

If as Tunes as suggected the water pump is toast (which I believe is your problem also), yes you would be having to add coolant to compensate. You're not going to visibly see the leak from looking at the top of the engine but rather at the bottom left rear side (same side as the timing belt). Since you say that you're continually adding water this will also lead to a hotter running engine because water in itself has less cooling properties than a 50/50 mixture of coolant and demineralized water. That's why your left filler cap feels so much hotter. Your highr idle may be associated with the hotter temps since you've been adding water instead of coolant mixture. Let's deal with one problem at a time. If you're still confident with CTC then get them to do a thorough inspection of water pump. Your insistance on the head gasket may be distracting them from finding the true source of the problem. By now you must be seeing or at least smelling the coolant leak after all of those refills. Are you checking the ground under the car for drips? Severe losses in coolant can cause idle issues because the thermosensors being at the highest point in the engine will be void of contact with the coolant and therefore unable to give correct coolant temp info to the ECU which in turn will make the incorrect adjustments to compensate based on the mis-information provided by the coolant thermosensors. Get the water pump issues straightened away first and we'll move onto any other problems. BTW, not a good idea to use water to top up cooling system, but acceptable in a pinch and only with demineralized water, hard water does nasty things to the engine and rad. May I suggest you search a previous thread where I substituted an amount (2 litres?) of coolant for a mixture of demineralized water and water wetter. It was just a move to improve my overall cooling effectiveness. Water wetter is a shelf item in CTC. Good luck.

[lakersfan1]

OK well, I have to put 2-4 liters of water into the coolant system with every drive I take so this has to be more than the water pump, no?

Not necessarily. When my water pump went, the weep hole was WIDE OPEN, so I'd fill the coolant in and it'd ALL pour out the weep hole before I even would get a chance to jump in and turn the car on. But you would notice some leakage on the timing side of the engine at that rate. I'd fill it up and let the car idle for 15 minutes and see if a pool of water forms anywhere under your car.

[Overclock]

Did notice leaking on the timing side actually...

Have CT doing an exam of the pump this aft. Will let you know the verdict.

[Overclock]

So apparently CT determined that the pump is the problem. They have no idea which pump to install though. MX-3 or MX-6 pump?

[jschrauwen]

Since it's a ZE, I'd go with the MX6. Did they not do a cross refference between the 2? I would have thought that both engines would use the same. These are the same CT people that couldn't detect the faulty water pump in the first place. A little red flag is startin' to go up here. Perhaps in the future a more reliable shop may be in order, just so as to have that extra comfort factor in knowing that they're going to do the right thing correctly. Ask some of the other BB members in the area who they use (Babyblue, bmwm3guy, etc). Are you not satisfied with the local Mazda there?

[Zoso124]

Sounds to me that the water pump went and your head gaskets are fine on the compression side. You need to pull off the timing cover and start inspecting.