2003 GTI 720 Low Compression

[tvonhon]

Hello all, first post and first off, thank you for the wealth of information here!! I am having problems with my 2003 GTI 720 and I could you some direction. First off, quick history. It started running rough earlier this summer for my family members, (hard start, then stalling out, loss of power, etc...). When I got to look at it, I saw that when running there was water spraying out of the exhaust manifold. I removed the manifold, and the corner was broke off, the gasket was also ripped. I then found out that my dad had tried multiple times to get it running regardless of the water leaking into the hull. So, I obviously need a new manifold. Also, I went ahead and pulled the carb while I had it apart and I'm going to rebuild it. In the midst off all this, I decided to check the compression to see if any internal damage had occured to the engine since it had been ran with water spraying out of the manifold. Both cylinders check 90psi, which I know is incredibly low. My question is, I checked the compression with the exhaust manifold and carb removed, which I know is not the best test, but my thinking was that the compression may check lower simply because of the lack of backpressure from the exhaust. (I didn't want to re-assemble everything to check compression) And since both cylinders check identical, my intial thought is that that compression may be ok. Thank you in advance for any input!!

 

[Dr Honda]

The compression will check just fine with the carbs and manifold off. SO... 90 psi... that engine is done. (Sorry)

If you think the gauge is wrong... check it with an air compressor, that has a known good gauge. BUT... since you were having a loss of performance... then I'm going to say your rings are going away. It's probably from water getting into the engine, and putting a light rust on the rings and cyl wall. Then... when you start it... it gets buffed off.

 

[tvonhon]

Thank you for the quick response. That is what I was afraid of.