am i gonna do more damage?

[Nemesis Gnat]

so ive got plans to repair whatever it is thats causing my gimpy number 2 cylinder (its down on compression), but i wont be able to do the work til this summer (probably july). its my daily driver, so in the mean time... will i hurt it by driving it?

i do have a truck that i can borrow to drive... but i feel bad just borrowing it for months and months at a time. i can if i have to though...

its not burning oil and it only runs rough at idle. the plug looked good when i checked it... no bad noises...

i dont drive many miles a day... often i dont drive at all for a day or 2...

sorry if this seems like a no brainer question to some... but im a no brainer kinda guy

thanks!

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

Drive it! 2F's are tough. Probably just a valve anyway.

Butt

 

[RockDoc]

I'd say try to pin down the cause with a leakdown test. Your valves are adjusted, right?

 

[inkpot]

Howdy! If it drives OK, then drive it. I drove mine for 4 months with a broken crank. It ran OK part of the time, and it ran rough and stalled a lot part of the time, but it was all I had. John

 

[Nemesis Gnat]

the valves are indeed adjusted. I will say though that the compression jumped from 30 to 70 when we trickled some oil into the spark plug hole... anyone in the Boulder, CO area with a leakdown tester? maybe i should just bite the bullet and buy one...

2fs are indeed stubborn little motors. it actually still runs great at anything above idle...

 

[Drofen]

the valves are indeed adjusted. I will say though that the compression jumped from 30 to 70 when we trickled some oil into the spark plug hole... anyone in the Boulder, CO area with a leakdown tester? maybe i should just bite the bullet and buy one...

2fs are indeed stubborn little motors. it actually still runs great at anything above idle...

That's not good news. Probably rings from what I'm told if the compression jumps when you add oil like that.

That being said, I drove mine daily for about 6 months with two cylinders low on compression. Just like yours compression would jump when oil was squirted in the spark plug hole. Texican has it right now doing a total rebuild and he told me the machine work was minimal so it wasn't any worse for the wear. My build thread with details is in my sig.

 

[Nemesis Gnat]

ya, rings is what i was thinking too...

but i guess we wont know for sure until we actually tear it apart, eh? either way im planning on a full rebuild/freshen up of the cruiser as a whole so...

how much did your rebuild end up costing you Drofen?

 

[scott84]

im about to buy one thats down 2 cylinders (low compression the owners says) do you think it will get me about 200-300 miles interstate to my home what should i do to prepare it for the journey home or should i make friend with some one whose got a big trailer?

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

im about to buy one thats down 2 cylinders (low compression the owners says) do you think it will get me about 200-300 miles interstate to my home what should i do to prepare it for the journey home or should i make friend with some one whose got a big trailer?

Not saying this is typical as this is the only Cruiser I have any experience with, but the PO drove mine from northern Idaho to northern Cali (~800 miles) with NO COMPRESSION on 1 cylinder, and maybe 40 psi on another. It sat for about a year and a half awaiting some attention before I got my hands on it. A valve job was all it took to bring numbers up to the high end of spec across the board.

Butt

 

[Drofen]

ya, rings is what i was thinking too...

but i guess we wont know for sure until we actually tear it apart, eh? either way im planning on a full rebuild/freshen up of the cruiser as a whole so...

how much did your rebuild end up costing you Drofen?

PM inbound.

 

[Nemesis Gnat]

Thanks bud, you got one comin back atcha

 

[lehiguy]

What are the numbers on the other cylinders? I had a 22R that had no compression whatsoever on cylinder number four. That was frustrating because the motor was relatively fresh. I took off the head, nothing there. I dropped the oil pan, popped out the rod and piston, and discovered a cracked ring land. A hone, a new piston, one ring set and she was back on the road. That was the result of some really bad ignition timing; too much advance caused detonation that actually broke the piston. Anyway, if you don't want to do the whole motor, you might want to pull the head first and see what condition that cylinder is in. You might get off easy.

 

[Nemesis Gnat]

Well, I figure it's about time I gave the cruiser some love after all it's given me.

The plan is a full tear down, some machining lovin for both the head and block (including a balance and all, hopefully wont need to punch it or need new pistons), new bearings and gaskets everywhere, cam, headers, it's already been desmogged, clutch, knuckle job, i need to fix my right side ebrake...

I've been researching forever (but does the research process ever really stop?), my budget is just about together... I'm excited! This'll be my first venture into a proper engine rebuild.

 

[Drofen]

Well, I figure it's about time I gave the cruiser some love after all it's given me.

The plan is a full tear down, some machining lovin for both the head and block (including a balance and all, hopefully wont need to punch it or need new pistons), new bearings and gaskets everywhere, cam, headers, it's already been desmogged, clutch, knuckle job, i need to fix my right side ebrake...

I've been researching forever (but does the research process ever really stop?), my budget is just about together... I'm excited! This'll be my first venture into a proper engine rebuild.

I have to say I'm a little bit jealous. I really wanted to do my own rebuild--would have been my first too--but time did not allow. It's on my list of things to learn how to do.