Compression check/test ... 80 PSI on each cylinder ???

[shiro1745]

I just did a compression check on my engine just out of curiosity and I got around 80 PSI on each cylinder. That gets me worried now, I feel the car pulling strong though. I just hope I did something wrong I was in the rush, I'll repeat the test tomorrow.

what i did:
warmed up the engine
disconnected the fuel pump fuse - 28(i believe) and engine management fuse - 43
removed all the spark plugs and did only the dry test (did the test with WOT)

I'll come back with the new readings tomorrow.
Any thoughts in the meantime?

[Stewy]

That sounds really low man, anything less than 150 psi would raise an eyebrow. A fresh motor is going to see upwards of 200 psi. How many miles on the engine?

[shiro1745]

80k miles,
as I said the engine pulls strong(or at least that's what I think), I hope I did something wrong measuring.

I'm not sure if there's anything different in the procedure for our B7, but if it's the same as for B6 then my engine is about to die.

[martin0079]

80k miles,
as I said the engine pulls strong(or at least that's what I think), I hope I did something wrong measuring.

I'm not sure if there's anything different in the procedure for our B7, but if it's the same as for B6 then my engine is about to die.

I think you should not have done wot during the test dry test does not mean wot it is just not adding oil to the engine in a wet test you squirt some oil into the cylinder I just did a lot of searching on compression testing and did not find one that said wot

[ladedruck]

I would think an 80psi engine would smoke like crazy

[shiro1745]

I think you should not have done wot during the test dry test does not mean wot it is just not adding oil to the engine in a wet test you squirt some oil into the cylinder I just did a lot of searching on compression testing and did not find one that said wot

it was my mistake, I didn't mean that dry test means WOT, I was trying to say that I did this test with WOT
I will do the dry test again tomorrow along with the wet test (oil in the cylinders)

I've spent a couple hours researching this before I did it, here is one of the DIY I found for B6, I figured it would be the same.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3521125

[martin0079]

it is off of vortex problem one hahahaits not a big deal I just never heard the wot bit before

[shiro1745]

it is off of vortex problem one hahahaits not a big deal I just never heard the wot bit before

I have never done this before and that was not the only source I used, I've watched several videos on youtube and read as much as I could in those two hours. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying what I've found was mentioning about WOT so that's what I did. But any advice is appreciated since I'm not an expert.

[ladedruck]

the general rule of thumb for compression testing for all 4 stroke engines is WOT and 8 compression strokes worth of cranking.

[DRAKLORE]

8 compression strokes!!!! Never heard that, was always taught/shown 3 compression strokes?! I just tested mine cause Hpfp failure and I got 160-165 on each cylinder dry and like 170ish wet I think the spec is 160-220 is good to audi/Vw

I'm not calling you out, just surprised. If a motor takes more than 4/5 strokes to get the compression than I would be worried and wouldn't really trust the results imho

[shiro1745]

I did 5 strokes but the last one did nothing so 4 would have been enough

Edit: more strokes probably make sense if the pressure doesn't increase fast with the first three, there is a big chance then to have some bad leaks - this is only my logic here and it's based on what I've been reading about this today.

[ladedruck]

the more strokes is just used to give a maximum reading. If a cylinder is making only 80pis it will only read 80psi no matter how many times you crank it since we are dealing with pressure here not volume.

[DRAKLORE]

True but I guess 8 just seems excessive + not good for the starter, by the third cylinder that puppies prolly pretty hot....

[shiro1745]

UPDATE: I just redid the test again today and got 175psi on every cylinder. It seemed the tool was loosing air through one connection, was not tight enough but wasn't really easy to see. I'm happy my engines still ok.

[DRAKLORE]

With 80psi your car would noticeably smoke (like in plumes) and
Would run like shit lol I was about to ask if you dis a wet test following but I'm glad you found the issue!

[Paulito]

were all plugs pulled?

did you hold the throttle open when cranking?

is the guage cheap?

[Paulito]

nvm... see you found the issue

[shiro1745]

were all plugs pulled?

did you hold the throttle open when cranking?

is the guage cheap?

all plugs were out
throttle was wide open
it is a friend's tool don't know how much it was but looks cheap

[Stewy]

UPDATE: I just redid the test again today and got 175psi on every cylinder. It seemed the tool was loosing air through one connection, was not tight enough but wasn't really easy to see. I'm happy my engines still ok.

Glad to hear that you solved the issue.

[shiro1745]

Yes, I'm glad the engine is fine, I was a bit scared. Thank you guys for all the input!