4cylinder /series 3 109/ out of the blue no compression in all cylinders

Hello all, i jumped in my landy to head to the store and noticed a ticking noise when accelerating, i turned around and parked it, it then became increasingly hard to start and then would not start at all. i replaced the coil, new electronic distributer,wires and plugs, i am getting spark and fuel but the compression dropped to 45 in 1 and 2 cylinder and 30 in 3and 4 cylinder, it was running absolutely perfect before this, what could have happend ? stuck valves maybe?

Head gasket might have gone?

TS2304 said:

Head gasket might have gone?

Click to expand...

Would that drop the compression in all 4 cylinders, cylinders 1 and two are reading 45pnds and 3 and 4 are at 30

It feels more like a timing issue or valves but I am not that savvy with this… when I pulled the plugs they are all burning perfectly

Something drastically wrong with your rockers? Easy enough to check them

Yes check all rockers are moving when turning over , ticking noise does sound like a head gasket

Reeltor1 said:

Would that drop the compression in all 4 cylinders, cylinders 1 and two are reading 45pnds and 3 and 4 are at 30

Click to expand...

That’s massively low on them all unless your measuring in different units or I’m being stupid (highly possible) - they should be at 145 lb/in for them all if 7:1; higher if 8:1 which is why I thought the gasket has gone - or the head is loose. Worth checking all the bolts are still tight.

You may just have been unlucky an head gasket gone in two places at the same time.