Help with head gasket

[thesameguy]

Leakdown really needs to be done with 60+ psi to be of much value. 35psi is not enough to show anything useful. Still, it does seem pretty cut and dry it you're blowing oil everywhere you've got a blowby problem. I'd still wanna run a leakdown test at proper pressure to verify that.

[James Wieler]

Thanks Andy,
Yes it is the Motorcraft version (and new) thanks for checking.
James

[James Wieler]

Thanks Thesameguy
Yes I tried getting up to higher pressures but my pancake compressor couldn't keep up (my 220V compressor is packed up as I'm moving in the next couple of months and needed to clear out the garage for showing). So 50psi is about as high as I could get and it was really low in the cylinders like 25 psi at most so ~50% leakage.
I find it strange that the blow-by has progress this much. I guess the 5 years in storage did it no favors.
Thanks
James

[thesameguy]

Yikes! Definitely a lot of leakage. Well, at least you have an answer and know what you gotta do. Pulling the motor isn't *that* bad, although it sucks to have done a HG and then have to pull the motor anyway. But, hey, it's old cars, right?

You know, when I was in elementary school my neighbor had a '66 Mustang as his first car, and he was always working on it. Always. I used to think, "Who would want to drive such an old car, something that always needs work?" Well, this was in 1986 so his car was 20 years old at the time. And here we are driving 35 year old cars! It'd be like Troy driving a Packard. What's wrong with us?

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

You are getting 145 psi across all cylinders with compression test so valves seem to be sealing.
You are not quite in range on leak down test, less than 30% would be better, but after how long of a waiting period? Eventually the air will leak out. This one shows 40%-70% as "moderate".

https://www.amazon.com/Lang-Tools-CLT-2 ... 7417&psc=1

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

This one from mac tools says 5% difference is normal. I would also think you need more pressure, like on this chart with 75/90/100 psi and holding some pressure after waiting a minute or two. Maybe you were not on the compression stroke?

[James Wieler]

It leaks immediately, there's no delay, the compressor is running, trying to keep up with the leak

[James Wieler]

Uhmmm, super embarrassed, but where is the STO jumper wire connector on an XR4Ti? I see the connector near the battery that has 6 ports (two at the top and 4 at the bottom sort of a triangle shaped connector) but there should be a gray single port connector too for the jumper wire correct? Am I crazy? I can't find the gray connector

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I remember just plugging in the black tester to that port near the the battery. Then doing the test key on/off etc. The tester has a 9v battery so you don't hook up another wire for power like on some vehicles.

[James Wieler]

Ok thanks. Maybe I’m crazy and there isn’t an STO
Cheers
James

[Ed Lijewski]

20210218_153847.jpg (105.72 KiB) Viewed 3327 times

YMMV

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I guess there is another wire. Good news you are not a crazy person after all!

[James Wieler]

Hmmmm, now to find it

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I keep thinking about this and have some experience in the past with a worn engine and oil additives. If I was there I would flush the engine with Gunk flush or BG flush to get built up sludge out, do an oil change with clean 10w30 conventional oil, add Restore additive for a 4 cylinder engine to the oil and drive it for a tank or two of gas. This will not cure the problem but it will clean the engine of sludge and confirm if the loss of compression is stuck rings or scored cylinder bores. It is a cheap way diagnose the rings/compression if that is the problem. If the cylnders are scored this will improve compression and the engine should run better. It worked for me with an old motor in the past.

cheers

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

You had me thinking I was doing it wrong all this time. Or that my code scanner worked differently. Guess not. Did you get any results?