Hi,
I have always thought I have been keeping my A4 well maintained but I guess everything is relative. Trying to balance the maintenance demands of an 1960 Pearson Triton and an 1970'sh vintage A4 and a reasonable amount of sailing time means that something is getting neglected.
Last Saturday, on the way back from a day sailing trip when Blossom (Triton 106) and I were pounded by winds gusting in 30's and short and steep chops on SF Bay, the A4 quit in the narrow Oakland estruary when Blossom and I were between two huge container freighter ships. Luckly I still had my sail up so although the boat speed drop a knot or two I was able to maintain steerage.
On Sunday I dove into the standard diagonostic routine and found that compressions were low, fuel supply was ok, and no spark. I have yet to further diagnose sparks issue. But what I want to ask here is the low compression issue.
Historically my 1-2-3 cylinders always had compressions in 90-100 range and cylinder 4 always had low compression in th 60-70 range. However, this time 1-2-4 cylinders all had compressions in 60-70 range and cylinder 3 had compression in high 30 to low 40. My friend Rob thinks the low compression in 1-2 (compared to historical range) was due to the fact that the engine was cold and there was no oil in the cylinder. But what could explain the low compression in cylinder 3? It does not look like a stuck value because usually that results in 0 compression. Could it be a sign that the head geskets are wearing out? I checked oil and does not see sign of water.
Thanks in advance for your insight and expertise.
Ray
I have always thought I have been keeping my A4 well maintained but I guess everything is relative. Trying to balance the maintenance demands of an 1960 Pearson Triton and an 1970'sh vintage A4 and a reasonable amount of sailing time means that something is getting neglected.
Last Saturday, on the way back from a day sailing trip when Blossom (Triton 106) and I were pounded by winds gusting in 30's and short and steep chops on SF Bay, the A4 quit in the narrow Oakland estruary when Blossom and I were between two huge container freighter ships. Luckly I still had my sail up so although the boat speed drop a knot or two I was able to maintain steerage.
On Sunday I dove into the standard diagonostic routine and found that compressions were low, fuel supply was ok, and no spark. I have yet to further diagnose sparks issue. But what I want to ask here is the low compression issue.
Historically my 1-2-3 cylinders always had compressions in 90-100 range and cylinder 4 always had low compression in th 60-70 range. However, this time 1-2-4 cylinders all had compressions in 60-70 range and cylinder 3 had compression in high 30 to low 40. My friend Rob thinks the low compression in 1-2 (compared to historical range) was due to the fact that the engine was cold and there was no oil in the cylinder. But what could explain the low compression in cylinder 3? It does not look like a stuck value because usually that results in 0 compression. Could it be a sign that the head geskets are wearing out? I checked oil and does not see sign of water.
Thanks in advance for your insight and expertise.
Ray
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