P38 4.6 Thor 1999 engine missing on 2 cylinders

Ive just ordered a set they were £14 it’s worth a try ,I’ll put them in the garage when I’ve finished with them might come in handy some time in the future .

If you need to borrow a set of noid lights Marjon give me a shout.

Why you gonna pop them over awfully nice of you "....................................................... Check. ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Not a bad price and always nice to have more tools
J

It’s not just me then l love nice tools (Spanners ect ) if you know what I mean?.

Well I think I may have found the cause of the problem,I finished early today so I took the plugs out of my P38 and did a compression test the results are as follows cylinder 1 10.5 bar ,cylinder 2 10 bar, cylinder 3 3.75 bar ,cylinder 4 10.25 bar ,cylinder 5 4 bar ,cylinder 6 10.5 bar, cylinder 7 10.5 bar , cylinder 8 11 bar . Do you think it could be the head gasket ?.

boycie said:

Well I think I may have found the cause of the problem,I finished early today so I took the plugs out of my P38 and did a compression test the results are as follows cylinder 1 10.5 bar ,cylinder 2 10 bar, cylinder 3 3.75 bar ,cylinder 4 10.25 bar ,cylinder 5 4 bar ,cylinder 6 10.5 bar, cylinder 7 10.5 bar , cylinder 8 11 bar . Do you think it could be the head gasket ?.

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wow..

The comp readings for a 4.6 HC should be 175-180psi.

Drop some oil down the bores and do it again, if they jump up suspect worn rings or bores.

Have you got any blow by?

Hi Henry the car ran fine up until a week or so ago I noticed a change in the exhaust note to start with then a lumpy tick over and a loss of power the car doesn’t use oil or water I checked it today and prior to this I have sat in traffic for over an hour with the temperature gauge just below the middle.

10 bar is around 145psi i think!

Burnt valves, worn rings, or Headgasket but it's got roudy reading across the board so eh.

I'd pull the head(s) and have a look, only a serious fault will cause such an issue so poking around the surface ain't gonna get you very far..

Worn cams can give a low reading? Once they decide to give up. They will wear to nothing very quickly

kermit_rr said:

Worn cams can give a low reading? Once they decide to give up. They will wear to nothing very quickly

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They just gradually wear until the lobe is round with no peak and the valve dunt move much or at all..

Not the issue here..

I think you are right I will start well I have already to take the heads off on Saturday and have a look , I am wondering if the head gasket has gone between cylinders 3 and 5 .I am not too sure as to how accurate my compression tester is when I tested no 8 the first time it read 10 bar but the O ring didn’t look great so I replaced it and retested it and it read 11 bar but I thought bugger it I need to take the heads off so I can have a look I won’t retest them all again .

boycie said:

I think you are right I will start well I have already to take the heads off on Saturday and have a look , am wondering if the head gasket has gone between cylinders 3 and 5 .I am not too sure as to how accurate my compression tester is when I tested no 8 the first time it read 10 bar but the O ring didn’t look great so I replaced it and retested it and it read 11 bar but I thought bugger it I need to take the heads off so I can have a look I won’t retest them all again .

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Make sure your compression tester is in good condition..

A blow to the outside you'd hear..

And any other would also be OBVS.

Any blow by? Take the oil cap off and have a look.

I will put the plugs back in when I get back tomorrow run the car and remove the oil filler and report back .

Ah yes also check the sparkers, how do they look?

Might also be worth getting an endoscope and having a look down the bores.

When you take off the rocker covers a quick check for cam lift (it’s worth the effort)
Then you do head work or hoik out the whole thing and stop messing.

It would be a shame to do a bunch of head work and then find out the lots got to come out.

Just a thought while your in that deep.

J

Prolly worth doing the Cam/lifters chains and sprockets while its that far apart.

But we shall wait until OP pulls the heads before replacing anyfink

I’ve got a Kent cam ,lifters ,chain ,sprockets and all the gaskets in the garage ready to go I have been meaning to do it for a while, also new coilpacks leads and plugs .Oh yea the plugs are ok and they all look the same .

I guess we know which way this is going then

In for a penny and all that

J

If I am going to strip it down and replace some parts I’d rather do it once and do it right .