Well, yesterday was a very bad day in all respects. Girl problems, business partner problems and the last was Mini problems. I was driving along in 4th gear going about 45mph and came to a red lilght, when the light turned green and I took off the the SES light started to flash and the car was sounding like a 69 Camaro mussle car with a huge cam. At high RPM's it was fine but it hated to be in first gear or at idle. I took it down to my mechanic and was told the #1 cylinder has no comprssion and he isn't sure why until he tears it all down. Also the car was driving very rich and the cat is bad (weird the cat is only 5k old. So now I have to wait unitl Friday to hear what I'm up again. I hope they don't have to go into the bottom end.
Sorry guys I just to write to get it off my chest
M

 

I'll put my money on a broken ring land ....detonation and pop....a car bring rich doesn't mean it's safe from breaking... especially with the amount of hot air you are pumping with that 2%...

 

What does that invole and is it hard to replace? What needs to be done to reaplce it? Also the car needs to be retuned, can you help me with that?
M

 

the piston will need to be replaced... and the rings...

as for tuning... who said the car is rich... and when is the car rich...

as for tuning... I peronsally cannot as I am not in the LA area

plus I mentioned modding the car this way could be a problem... I can advise you but would rather not put my hands on the car now that it has been changed from where I was compfy

 

How much in parts and labor do you think this will cost? Did you move back to AZ. I think I'm going to go with a 15% pulley this week.

 

Wow, that sucks!! Just when it sounded like the things you were doing was the path I wanted to take... wish you luck getting it back together and running!

Tuls, what did he do to take it past what you were comfy with?

 

ha ha.... no ...no AZ.... labor is tough... it's time consuming but not hard... as long as the cylenderwall is ok then it's minimal.... no need to pull the engine... but if it got hit... then yeah... it's gunnah get expensive... I would say a half to full day to do it... gotta pull the head and drop the oil pan...

 

well I dont' wanna start antoher war here on NAM so I'd rather not go into it...

Mario is a good guy... very trusting and kind hearted....and IMO got sold a bill of goods from some people after FBR touched his car last....and now has paid the ultimate price

 

how well do you trust your mech.? alot of things can cause a cyl. to not fire. you need air fuel and spark. it could be an injector or plug or as in my case a coil . just get a second opinion is all i'm sayin' and hope all goes well . remember it's only a machine . insignificant is truly an understatement.

 

He said no compression - assuming that is correct, it's either rings or valves.

 

Or a big smoking hole right through the piston itself....

 

This whole thing is making me a bit sick, and worst of all I'm spending more money and not getting cool out of it. I wanted to use that money for FSD's, sway bar and some tiny other stuff. What a waste.

 

HOW WELL DO YOU TRUST YOUR MECH.?

 

a lier can come up with an amazing amount of reasons.

 

I knwo where the car is and the mech is not only a good person but accually knwos what he's talking about

 

Get yourself a compression gauge, pull sparkplug for cyl1, insert comp gauge, pull off 3 other sparkplug wires and have someone crank the starter for you... you'll get a compression reading in 10-15seconds...

If it really is ZERO then I wouldn't be driving around on it AT ALL. If a ring grenaded itself you're only doing more damage to your cylinder wall by driving it more.

Don't treat this lightly...

-e

 

I don't know him very well I have only heard great things about him and what he can do for Mini's. Feel positive leaving my car there and I haven't seen him on undercover Dateline or anything, so thats good. I know the owners Mini is pushing the most HP out a non-turbo, non nitrous Mini. Something like 226whp. The do wish we wasn't so far away from me. I think is like 70miles but that's driving through LA which could bring the drive up to 4 hours one way.
M

 

How do you know already who is working on it? Did he call you?

 

I know everything going on Mario.... the mini community is very small... you are in the LA area which is also small...

no he didn't call me

 

You must be doing drive by's at very Mini Shop. LOL.

 

heh heh..... at least yer car is in the right hands

 

Yeah I think so too, I just wondering what this going to cost me?

 

Then there's the gasket or a crack in the head or block, but those would usually be low comp. not NO comp. Or the plug hole itself. More than one of these has poped before. Check the threads closely. If the hole is bad your mechanic should've noticed something off if the gauge was the screw-in type.

Don't rule out something screwy with the FBT head either, springs, keepers... can brake...

The -17/+2% combo moves less the air than a 19% alone so I doubt that is the problem.

 

Actually you have this backwards.

Bill

 

17% + 2% tuns less than a 19% only pulley