i decided to mess with my car today, i took the EGR appart and cleaned the sensors, checked oil for any coolant (still paranoid about the lower intake gasket i changed awhile back), checked spark plugs for any weird condition, and did a compression test. what worries me is the compression.

the right side (standing at the front of the car staring at the engine) starting from the front to the back is as follows

155, 110, 155

the left side....

108, 120, 135

i didnt see any kind of weird condition on the spark plugs. but then again they only have less than 1000 miles on them. i do notice when i first start the car in the morning, sometimes it will puff out a little blue smoke like oil. (valve stem seals?). and if it is the valve stem seals could that cause a loss in compression? or is that just mainly oil consumption? i barely lose oil, its been about 1500+ miles on a new oil change and i might have lost 1/4 of a quart.

also im pretty positive my head gasket is leaking. on cold days there is tons of steam flowing from the exhaust about 3 minutes after startup, then goes away when its at normal temps. the engine stays really cool (160) so its not overheating in the slightest. and im losing coolant, hardly any though, but i notice it.

these numbers worry me, anyone know what i could do to get these numbers up? i really dont want to tear into the heads right now and replace the head gaskets because its winter here right now. if i still have the car by spring i will end up doing it.

 

When you get some low reading cylinders, you want to give a couple good squirts of motor oil into the spark plug hole. Try to aim for the upper part of the piston so the oil will coat the rings. Then do the test again. If compression spikes up, the low reading is due to having worn rings. Without doing this, you're just second guessing on what it might be.

 

how would one go about "squirting oil" into the spark plug hole? could i just use a funnel and drop a tad bit in there? how much oil are we talkin here? lol

 

with one of these: 4 Oz. Flexible Spout Oil Can

you can even do this:

 

hahaha, i didnt even think about using one of those. idk if we have one in the garage or not. i really liked the wizard of oz reference though. ill pick one up later, or possibly tomorrow. and ill redo the test and reply with results.

 

also, anyone know what the stock spark plug gap is on a 3.4 sfi? im using ac delco copper. autozones website says .035 and ive read online elsewhere and it says .045. i know they say they come pre gapped from the factory, but i still wanna be sure. since i have the plugs out i checked and i have a few that are reading .045 and a few that show .035. im super picky with my cars.

 

You should have an emissions sticker under the hood, or on the radiator core support that gives plug gap specs.

 

good call. it is .045. autozones trying to mess my plugs up -.-

 

Doesn't matter what gap the plugs come boxed with, you gap your own according to your cars specs (if that's what you were getting at).

 

well they said they come pre gapped for the application. and i double checked just to be sure, and noticed 2 out of the 6 was at .035 instead of the .045. and all i was saying is that apparently autozone needs to correct their info on proper gapping.