my car has lost power recently so did a compression test today

1 - 220
2 - 170
3 - 165
4 - 215

There are no misfire or Cel, coolant are clean, not headgasket...

just lost power before vtec, some white smoke if you rev high...

my garage said i need a complete rebuild, but i feel like they are ripping me off...

could a valve adjustment help? or should i replace with a 2nd hand engine?

 

Do a leakdown test to see where it's leaking from. Something is messed up in there for sure.

 

white smoke = water

 

if you pressurize 2 or 3, do you get air out of the other? could be a "blown gasket" between the two?

 

what is a leakdown test? sorry cos i dont know much about these, just i thought if my valves are fxxked i should be getting missfire and running bad...

i am just down on power with some smoke when at high rev, cant tell they are blue or white.

oil cap and coolant are fine no white stuff

 

could you tell me more? if its a blown gasket will it damage other things?

 

well, other than running like shit it probably wont as long as it doesnt start letting coolant into the cylinders. I'd definitely get it fixed though..
I'd imagine if it looked something like this except not as bad and between 2-3 not 1-2 it could be just a head gasket issue. OR, it could be piston rings on 2-3, which wouldnt make sense to me since according to everyone, piston 4 gets scored/rings go bad first

 

take off the hose on the front of the valve cover and see if it smokes. If it does, your rings a gone.

 

thanks mate i will give it a try any more suggestions?

 

Also, try a valve adjustment. I some exhaust valves on 2 & 3 bottomed out, vtec would kicked in hard. After the adjustment, hitting vtec was smooth and I got my low end back.