Hi everyone. Well, I made a topic a while back about buying a car sight unseen. I've decided to make the trip down to Virginia from NJ to look at the car. It's got just shy of 24k miles on it. It's a 2006. Do you think I should take the time to get a compression test done (provided the owner allows it) or is that only done on higher mileage vehicles? Hoping to have an S2K in the next 2 to 3 weeks! Cannot wait!

 

With low mileage like that I wouldnt bother, on most cars. However, its cheap insurance for you especially on this car. I would get leakdown/compression.

 

How much is a leakdown/compression test and can it be done anywhere or does it have to be done at a Honda dealership?

What results should an AP2 usually get to know that the engine is healthy?

 

You can do it in MANY places, but the readings will be all over the place depending on HOW they do it.

Really, look for all 4 numbers in the same ball-park, like within 10psi of each other.

Absolute values don't really mean much, as one test can give 120 and another 200, even though both are just fine.

 

Definitely get it done. I've seen it go for anywhere from $40 to 80. It takes less than 10 minutes to perform.

Consistency is key amongst the different cylinders, like mentioned, but I think consistency AND numbers towards the higher part of the range = best.

 

A compression/leakdown test is one test, correct?

 

No. They are two seperate tests...

 

Yes I would go ahead and do it, and a compression test and leakdown test are different. Get a compression test first, if it comes out good then don't bother with the leakdown. If one of the cylinders is a decently lower number than the rest then have a leakdown test performed on it, this will tell you why the compression is low in that cylinder.

 

It should probably be 0.5 or 0.75 shop hour (open hood, remove spark plugs, operate compression check tool), or around $75, depending on your area's shop labor cost.