Misfiring on cylinder two

Tiny
CHERIO
  • MEMBER
  • 2012 BUICK LA CROSSE
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 144,000 MILES
Diagnosis found PO300 code and vehicle currently misfiring on cylinder two. They swapped plug and coil to different cylinders but misfire stayed on cylinder two. Tested an verified that the coil is sparking. Tested compression of the cylinders and found that cylinder two has 70 psi and cylinders four and six are at 140 psi. Performed leak down test and found air escaping through the oil dipstick tube and the PCV system. Nothing through intake or exhaust.

What can be done besides replacing the engine as the dealer prescribed?
Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 AT 10:07 AM

5 Replies

Tiny
CHERIO
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Searched your site and found the following. I guess I will go find someone to give me repair estimates. It would not be so bad but I still owe on the darn thing. Have been faithful to perform scheduled maintenance for this car. Sad. I used to love Buick's, frustrating!

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-vibration-at-idle
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/the-reasons-for-low-compression

Bad Intake or exhaust valve: Intake and exhaust valves are present in every combustion chamber in the engine's cylinder head. The valves seal against a valve seat which is pressed into the cylinder head. Each of these pieces is made of a hardened metal that is finely ground to create the seal. After time and usage, this seal can become worn and burnt creating leakage which allows the compression to escape. In this case, the cylinder head must be removed and a valve job performed.

Those vapors are supposed to get sucked out by the PCV system. That is the positive crankcase ventilation system which includes an inexpensive valve that should be replaced periodically. If you see that smoke while the engine is running, start with a new PCV valve.

or

Broken piston ring: If a particular cylinder piston ring breaks it will allow cylinder compression to leak outward into the crankcase. To check for this condition remove the oil fill cap when the engine is running and you will see a distinctive pulse of smoke forced outward from the inside of the engine. A compression test will be able to pinpoint which cylinder has malfunctioned and needs repair.

To tell if it is due to worn piston rings, your mechanic can do a "cylinder leakage" test. A compression test will identify any cylinders with low compression. A cylinder leakage test will tell you why it is low. There are four possible causes and four places to look. The causes are a leaking intake valve, a leaking exhaust valve, a leaking cylinder head gasket, and worn piston rings. The leakage test involves blowing compressed air into each cylinder, one at a time, and listening for where it comes out. If the piston rings are worn, you will hear the air hissing at the oil cap or dipstick tube.

or

Flat camshaft: The camshaft is responsible for opening the intake and exhaust valves. This is done by the camshaft lobe, one for every valve. When this lobe wears down it will not open the valve which will not allow the cylinder to take in air or allow exhaust gasses out of the cylinder resulting in low compression. This can be observed by removing the valve cover and turning the engine over to check the valve movement. When this problem occurs the camshaft must be replaced.
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Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 AT 3:18 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,741 POSTS
Not many mechanics will go through the trouble of doing a cylinder leakage test. Happy yours did. Leakage heard at the dip stick tube or "oil" cap is due to the piston rings. Worn rings are normally found equally on all cylinders, and this is not common at the mileage you listed. For that reason, a better suspect would be a broken piston ring.

I have mixed feelings about replacing the entire engine for this problem. If you find a good used engine from a salvage yard, what is to say it won't develop the same problem? A new or rebuilt engine from GM will be horribly expensive.

If there are no other problems with the engine, my preference would be to remove that cylinder head and the oil pan, then remove just the one piston and its connecting rod. The cause should be evident at that point. If the piston rings are broken, check the cylinder wall for scratches or gouges. If those are found, more extensive machine work is needed after the engine is removed. That is when a used engine might be the better value. Broken piston rings can be caused by spark knock, excessive cylinder "taper", or ridge build-up at the top of the cylinder. Also, to reduce friction, some manufacturers are using rings that are much thinner than years ago. That can contribute to easier breakage.
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+1
Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 AT 3:24 PM
Tiny
CHERIO
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Great thanks for your reply and direction!
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Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 AT 3:36 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,741 POSTS
Just saw your second post. Be aware that makes it look on our lists like you received a reply already. Since this becomes a private conversation between just the two of us, or a few people, most of the other experts will not see your question or have a chance to reply. You are lucky I was already here with my wondrous wisdom or I would not have seen it either.

The article you found explains numerous causes for low compression, but we are past that. You already know where the leakage was observed. The only thing I can add is compression tests should be done when the engine is still warm, and a battery charger should be connected so the engine cranks just as fast for the last cylinder being tested as it was for the first cylinder. If the engine had cooled down by the time the cylinder leakage test was done, that could adversely affect the results. I would want to perform the leakage test on one or two other cylinders that had good compression readings for comparison. I am not trying to second-guess your mechanic. I just feel more confident in the tests I performed than those I just read about.
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Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 AT 3:53 PM
Tiny
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Wondrous knowledge indeed! Thanks!
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Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 AT 5:56 PM

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