Lost Compression today !
 

So frustrating! I bought this 2001 3.0 with 280,000 km on it because i have so much faith in that motor! My old e46 had 500,000 km before i sold it and it was still purring.
Long story short i'm heading out on a 7 hour journey with the family and half hour in I feel the truck jerking so I figured ok it must be a coil, as I've changed the plugs recently. had a few spares so pulled over and found the non responsive one and swapped it out. No change, cylinder 3 is not being nice!
So I drive it home only to find when I do a compression test I'm getting about 5 pounds on that cylinder! Not happy!
I've seen a few vids talking about the rings getting stuck with carbon deposits from lack of oil changes, freezing cold days ( which it was -25 C), etc. I had all those symptoms!
When I recently changed the rocker cover gasket I was not happy with the sludge ad colour in the head. I also looked for any broken springs, bent or cracked valves, ( difficult to see) and there is zero noise. Engine still sounds the same.
Anyways I poured about 2 ounces of injector, intake, cleaner in the cylinder to soak until I'm back in a few days. I really hope this helps as I'm not in the mood for any valve work.
Any suggestions? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks and Seasons Greetings!

Burnt valve maybe? Done a leak down test?

That low of compression is not a simple fix. You will need to do some serious diagnosis. But, I would prepare yourself for a major tear down. Sucky time of year to do it, but it's coming. Accept the inevitable

Thats what i'm afraid of! Don't mind doing the head or gasket, just don't want to have to do the lower section!

i' have a heated garage so I'm ok no matter what temp.

Well just did the leak down test and its coming from the exhaust side. i was hoping for a broken spring or something that doesn't require the head coming off, but i'm guessing, burnt valve like you said, or carbon stuck on the valve.
This is frustrating!! looks like i have a fun filled weekend ahead!

Look on the bright side, there's only one head on a 3.0... And this is kind of a simple fix, a bit of teardown but pretty straightforward and way easier than opening the bottom end for piston rings.

I envy your heated garage right now.

Use a borescope down thru the sparkplug hole and SEE what the problem is. Its usually easy to spot.

They are real cheap now. I paid like $300 or more for mine but I have seen them for $60 or so now.

yeah it comes in handy. working in the garage in T shirts! lol.

Yeah Borrowing one from a friend of mine this friday before the tear down on Saturday. i will be pissed if its a piece of carbon preventing a valve from closing. that would suck!

I wouldn't if it didn't bend or damage the valve that's fixable without even removing the head.

Come to think of it. I would get a bit of lifter noise when i first start the truck for about 5 seconds and then it would go away?!?!

i'm wondering if the lifter is stuck or something, or when i did the rocker cover gasket recently a piece broke from the hardened rubber and lodged it self somewhere in there?

The condition of the head is not the greatest either. Dark and sludgey One of the worst i've ever seen.
Hmmm? I will know this weekend when I take off the cams and lifters.

Lifter noise would be from extra play between the cam and the lifter/valve so it wouldn't be stuck open.

Rubber in the combustion chamber or close to it would burn quite quickly, it would be very unlucky if it managed to keep a valve open and survive.

At this point, take the head out and at the very least clean it, you will necessarily find something wrong.

So tomorrow i'm dropping in a scope to look in the cylinder. Have a really good one!
I took off the exhaust cam today to look for broken valve springs, etc. I want to try pressurize the cylinder with out the cams on it just to determine if its a lifter or not. The rocker area looks disgusting!

i forgot to mention, when i got the truck i found almost 11 litres of oil in it! that was about 3000 miles ago. i can tell who ever had this before did not do regular oil changes, and i'm guessing they used regular gas also. :dunno:

I bought it cheap so i can't really complain about the work ahead to be fair.

The question i have is, can i lifter extend and stick keeping a valve slightly open when it should be closed? not enough to touch the piston but just enough to cause 40 pounds compression?

Yeah. Seen that video and tried that. Didn’t make a difference.

Also did the leak down and proved the exhausts valves. Not the rings.

Lifters don't extend past the resting point. So I cant see that being the problem.

Lost Compression today !
 

Totally normal to hear lifters until the oil pressure builds. (at least in both of my x5s). I count the seconds to determine if it's time to aid oil.

"Full " on the dipstick is the middle not the top FYI at least that's what I've read.

Back to the topic: severe loss of compression in one cylinder from exhaust valve not seating.

If you already have the valve covers off, actually doesn't even matter: take the fuel pump fuse out so the car can't "diesel" and poke an inspection camera in the cylinder and look.

If the VC are off, use a digital calipers to measure the change in height of all the valves. You may discover a critical difference, also look at the springs, a broken spring will reduce the close force and will allow all sorts of build up on the valve and valve seat.

There is a chance the valve or valve seat are actually damaged.

Burnt valve!!

Well cheap fix at least.

Yes !
Going to send the head out to get cleaned up on monday. Hopefully i can put her back together next weekend

- Change all valve seals, use BMW OEM seals only.
- You can buy these seals and give them to the machine shop.
- Valve brand: in the Volvo forum there is a debate of OEM Valve ($80/each for the Volvo, idk BMW cost) vs Osvat vs TRW etc.
- Some people think the cause of burned valve is from leaky valve seals ---> oil caking on the stem ---> valves cannot close properly.

- Does anyone know the price for the BMW valve?

- From now on, use only Octane 91 gas, which should reduce the risk of burned valves.
- Clean the injectors too.

So the never ending debate. How to clean or do i clean the carbon off the tops of my pistons?

Thanks! 91 only plus in my Bimmers. There are 4 in the house and its something i stress on. Its amazing when i pull up to a gas station and see someone with a brand new BMW pushing the 87 button. I just shake my head and laugh, but chances are they are returning it in 4 years anyway, and don't understand the fuel milage is decreased so much! lol.
"penny wise, pound foolish" i was taught.
Thanks all for all your help!!

walnut media blast?

There is a stronger version of the gm injector/head cleaner than what that guy was using in that video I linked. Unfortunately I don't have the part # for it. The stuff is very powerful and will flat out take the carbon off.

I will see if I can find the part # but I doubt you would have time to get it and use it in the time frame your going for.

Thanks unfortunately i finished (wasted) the gm stuff.I may go grab some more

Much better than the seat!


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- This guy used Berryman and it looks very nice.

- Once done with Berryman, add some cheap oil (7 qts or so), run the engine for a few minutes, then change the oil using synthetic. This will get rid of any Berryman that got into the crank case.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRiZOTTel34

This guy wasn't putting the Berrymans into the engine. Was that what you were suggesting?

Cn I think was suggesting to use BM to spot clean parts of an only partly disassembled engine. Then to remove any residue with the method described


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:iagree:

Well she's all back together after 4 days of hard work!
Cleaned Valves
Cleaned the head
Lapped Valves
Cleaned the block
Cleaned lifters
Started one time!!
Only issue is i didn't want to wait for a vans kit from amazon and i wasn't having vanos errors before but now i am. It could be the fact the the pressure needs to build up still I'm still going to rebuild it in a few weeks. I'm just happy its running again.

Late to the party, but for future reference... Audi direct injection engines are notorious for carbon buildup. I yank the intake on my A4 and de-carbon the ports/valves with BG "ISC" or Induction System Cleaner. It's unbelievably nasty and softens/dissolves the carbon.

https://www.bgprod.com/catalog/gasol...ystem-cleaner/

I have to remember this for my 2011 550 with the direct injection motor but the intakes are impossible to get to as they are on the outboard side of the V.

- What BRAND of valves did you use?

- Also, how many did you replace? Did you replace all 12 Exhaust valves preventively or only 1 burned valve? This is the debate in Volvo forum...

Very interesting post for sure! :) What brand of head gasket? No problems with head bolt threads in block?

The outboard side? :wow:

I have the BG tool, similar to a pressurized injector cleaner, with a fogging nozzle that you can mount in the throttle body. It connects to shop air; you run the engine at about 2000rpm and it "fogs" the intake and the backsides of the valves with the cleaner. There are youtube videos somewhere. Probably not as effective as a walnut shell blasting, but it works.

The intake on VAG 2.0 TFSI comes off in about an hour. I fill three of the four intake ports with ISC and let it sit for a couple of hours, then chuck a brass brush into my drill to really clean the stems/guides/ports. Turn the engine over to close the 4th and repeat. It's really nasty stuff, but the Audi guys swear by it.

can't remember. only did 2 on Cylinder 3 even though it was only one that was done. After cleaning all the valves they looked brand new so no need to change all. The supplier i get them from only had 2 in stock also.

My supplier i deal with got me the Elring head gasket.
No problems with bolt threads as the head was not over heated to put stress on the bolts. Everything went back in perfectly!

Last thing. I had marked all the chains, sprockets, etc. with nail polish cause i didn't have access to the Vanos timing tool at the time. Next time i would mark the distance of the VANOS splines also as that is the key! it worked but lacked power and got the i"nlet cam end point not reached" error code. This happened because i was out of timing and the DME was trying to compensate past its limits.
Engine was smooth but lacked power until you hit about 3K (vanos range) then it would take off.
One of my friends was able to grab the tool from the dealership and i was so happy!
I took off the rocker cover, and Vanos. Took 15 min to lock in the correct timing and voila!!!! more power and no errors!
i learned a lot from this project!

Outboard side, meaning the outside of the V as they run the turbos in the middle. there is no room to unbolt them and properly walnut blast the intake on the head. I have never heard of any product that will clean a seriously carbonized intake on direct injection engines.
My car had a recall done so my heads were taken out and were cleaned and the amount of carbon on them with 80,000 miles on them was crazy. I'm not sure if any chemical in the world could clean that up through and intake spray.
Go and look up an N62 engine and carbon cleaning and you will get a better understanding of what i'm talking about. its the worst design but lots of fun power!