After 16 years there is bound to be gasket and seals leaking. Do a leak down test. Check the (or just replace) intake gaskets.
Is it steam or smoke coming from the exhaust? Probably steam from coolant leaking into the combustion chamber - from a leaking intake gasket.
The cooler exhaust pipe indicates more than one cylinder missing on that particular side of the engine. This could be caused by an unballanced fuel delivery issue - so, the carburater probably needs rebuilding.
If the compression on the low cylinder is 10% lower than the other ones -- this indicates worn out piston rings or worn out valve guides. Hopefully its valve guides - a leak down test can confirm this. Did you change the oil and filter?
By the time you go testing and replacing everything that may be wrong - you will find that it is better and cheaper to just remove the intake and heads and just freshin them up with new seals and gaskets. You can then determine if: the valves need replacing, check the condition of the top of the pistons (which probably need to be cleaned up), check the carb.
Friday, November 27th, 2009 AT 9:38 PM
