I did a compression test today just for curiosity sake.

Since I've had the car (3 years) I've always burned ~1qt every 1500-2000 miles. As far as I know and can tell my intake retainers/keepers are original (yeah, been meaning to update those...)

here re are the results!

Year: 2003
Miles: 134,386
Elevation: 2,200 ft.
Warm engine, all plugs removed.

Dry Test WOT
Cyl 1 - 152
Cyl 2 - 152
Cyl 3 - 150
Cyl 4 - 155

Wet Test WOT
Cyl 1 - 177
Cyl 2 - 178
Cyl 3 - 174
Cyl 4 - 181

Thoughts, recommendations, advice?

Thanks!
Justin

 

Very consistent. Healthy engine.

The overall low test numbers are likely gauge/parameter related. Did you disconnect the injectors for the test?

 

Yes, I pulled the fuse

After I posted I came across the acceptable range spec range in the service manual. Although hitting 200 psi would have been nice I see that 135 is the minimum.

Given slight altitude and 14 years I guess being consistent across the board is what really matters.

 

Being that the fuel rail is pressured, you will get a few pulses of raw gas in the cylinders as the injectors are still operating.

Disconnecting the injectors eliminates all fuel in the test and will yeild better numbers.

 

these numbers look good. congrats.

 

Just a question when you did your compression test did you turn the engine over until the gauge stopped? I have seen tutorials say to only turn over a couple times which will yield low numbers.

 

The cylinder consistency is good. If it drives/runs strong, I would say you are good to go.

 

Sorry to OP. Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm looking at a 2003 with a rebuilt engine. I had the compression/leak down tests done today. The shop owner said the numbers in the compression test was 150psi across all 4 cylinders and the leak down test shows less than 5% leakage. I read other threads that the compression numbers should be well in the 200+psi range. Although there are number of factors that can skew the numbers. The shop owner said it was 45 degrees all day and the numbers looked good. He said the engine is healthy.

Is there anything to be concerned about with the engine having such low compression numbers? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Absolute values can differ. Compression gauges need to be equilibrated to each other. Relative, consistent values between cylinders prolly indicate good overall state.