Compression test

18 Apr 2017

$160	new battery
$35	compression tester

Finally got around to buying a compression tester. I also ended up buying a new battery to do the test, since the one it came with wasn’t up to spec for a Z nor was it healthy. After replacing the battery I started to get at it! After taking off the balance tube I noticed there was some oil in the intake plenum. Ugh. A quick google leads me to believe it may be a clogged PCV valve. The other option is that the oil is too full. I’m going to do an oil change anyways, but I’ll probably swap out the PCV valve just in case.

Another thing I was a bit worried about was that the exhaust’s odour was pretty strong. There was no real colour to it though. A shitty PCV valve leaking oil into the intake could definitely let through just enough oil to make it smell without being overbearing. I’m hoping fixing the PCV valve and doing an oil change will fix this problem too.

The good news is that the compression test results were pretty stellar:

Cylinder	PSI (136-186)	% Max (< 10%)
1	180	4%
2	182	3%
3	185	2%
4	183	3%
5	188	0%
6	182	3%

I’m super happy about this. I was pretty anxious about not doing the test before purchasing the car, so this was a big relief. I’ll probably redo the test a while after I fix the PCV/oil problem, just to make sure that it isn’t juking the results.