Thread: Cylinder 3 No Power

Hey everyone. I'm having a problem with a motor I just installed into my shell. So some background first.

The engine last ran in June 2009. I pulled it from my old Se-R which had been smashed in an accident. I put the engine on a stand, and then put new coolant hoses on the intake manifold, new front and rear oil seals, new rod bearings, new valve cover gasket. I sealed up the bottom end with new rtv(front cover, rear cover, oil pans).

Some things to note about changing the rod bearings. I did have the motor upside down on the stand, and I rotated the crankshaft by hand to get the rods at the bottom of their stroke. The rotation took place without the full oil supply. I coated the journals and bearings with engine oil before tightening the rod caps. Also the timing chain and tensioner were left in place.

Ok so the engine is sealed up still no oil, I go ahead and rotate it on the stand a few more times to make sure there isn't any heavy resistance. I fill the engine up with oil and rotate the crank with a wrench in order to get the new oil to flow into the passages.

I let the engine sit for a few months before putting it into the chassis. Once in the chassis it sits again for a few months before I finish up the install and proceed and go ahead and start it.

This past week I finished the install. Some things to note are that I installed a Junkyard NX radiator and filled up the cooling system with Distilled Water. I did not get the NX radiator cleaned before install. Now that I think about it I shouldn't have skipped this. I also primed the motor with the fuel pump fuse pulled in order to get the oil into the passages again.

So on start up the engine cranks over fine, no rod knock, no noises out of the oridinary. The motor is running great as it should. I monitor the temp and it stays right in the middle where it should be. I attach a consult reader to monitor the engine and the fans kick on at 100 Celcius. Through out this week I run the motor some more, and I kept an eye on that temp gauge. It never went up to H. I'd say it ran for maybe 4-5 hours with no problems. The only weird thing I noticed was that all the water that I put into the coolant reservoir was gone. It didn't flow out so the motor must have pulled it in. The temp gauge never moved past the center mark throughout all this.

I go to start the car yesterday, and it did not want to turn on. To me it seemed like it wasn't getting any fuel. I lowered it from the jack stands so that it would not be inclined. I put in another gallon of fuel and I was able to start it once again. The problem however is that it is running on three cylinders. Cylinder #3 does not fire.

I checked for spark at Cylinder #3 and that is ok, the spark is there. Next I went ahead and did a compression check. Number 1 was at 110 psi, Number 2 at 110 psi, number four was 120 psi. Cylinder number three exhibited some weird behavior. I tried the compression several times and for the most part It stayed at 0 psi. On two occasions I was able to build some pressure (30 psi, and then 60 psi).


After seeing that cylinder 3 was not making any compression, I went ahead and tried the compression check with oil on the top of the piston ( per FSM). My new numbers with the oil where Number 1: 145 psi, Number 2: 140 psi, Number 3: 0 Psi, Number 4: 135 psi .

At this point the motor turns on but it runs on three cylinders. I have some theories about what is going on. I just wanted to run it by you guys to see what you think. Also maybe you have some other suggestions as to what It might be, or some suggestions on other trouble shooting techniques.

Theory 1: Somehow I blew the headgasket. I never saw the temps go up but maybe there was a point where I wasn't watching and it did spike. (Possibly the Junkyard NX rad was clogged or dropped some rust into the cooling system).

Theory 2: I messed up the timing while rotating the crank and camshafts without a full oil supply. The messed up timing possibly caused a valve to get bent in cylinder number 3.

Theory 3: Something is holding a valve in cylinder 3 open.

Theory 4: Maybe the rings got messed up with the motor sitting for so long and me manually turning the motor with very little oil supply (The psi on the working cylinders goes up with added oil).

Any help would be appreciated. At this point I'm just hoping the motor does not need heavy repairs to fix the problem.

I think your 2nd and 4th theories are very unlikely. I don't think you messed anything up with the lack of oil or rotating the crank (as long as the timing chain, tensioner and cams were in place).

Blown head gasket for some crazy reason or something holding cylinder 3 valves open sound way more likely.

Thanks for making this post though. My brother experienced a similar failure yesterday and you've given me some ideas on what to check.

As for the coolant "disappearing" from the reservoir... Technically while cold that thing should be about empty. When the coolant is hot it expands and fills the tank up quite a bit, then when the coolant cools it gets sucked back into the radiator. If you filled up the reservoir usually as the coolant heats up that fluid will get pushed out of the overflow provision on the top of the reservoir, then when the coolant cools the tank empties into he radiator and you're left with only a little coolant in the tank (if any). That is normal.

Is plug 3 dry, wet? What color?

Not very common to blow a headgasket on Cyl 3. Generally the edge of the head lifts, and 1 or 4 go. Secondly, when a headgasket goes, it's usually apparent on more than one cylinder. Failed rings are very likely.

An easy way to check would be to disconnect the plug wire, and disconnect the injector for #3, then run the car for a very short period of time. Shut it off, pull the plug, and if it's wet and not oil, headgasket wasn't seated properly. If it's wet with oil, it's the rings. And FYI, if you jumped timing, you'd have more valves than just the valves in one cylinder bank bent.

Hey guys thanks for the input. Well I went ahead and did some things to try to trouble shoot.

I ran the engine with the radiator cap off. There was no bubble formation. This particular test was a bit difficult for my situation because the car has prothane engine mounts. With the 3 cylinder idle the water was slopping around like mad, lol.

I drained the coolant from the rad and what I saw was mostly water. I did see a bit of oil sheen on the top. I'm not sure if others see a slight sheen when they drain their coolant. The water that I drained out was a light brown color. I felt it with my fingers and it felt like water and not greasy like oil.

I tried the spark plug test Cliff recommended, and number 3 did have a greasy film on it. It wasn't extensive though. I ran the motor maybe like 20 mins until the fans kicked in.

I'm going to drain the oil and see what it looks like. However this will probably be inconclusive I think. The oil in the motor is new, and I"m running just water. I'm not sure if I will be able to see a headgasket problem by checking oil.

It looks like that head is going to have to come off.

have you checked to see if the injecter is working? replace the injecter or just replace the whole rail since its easyer and see if that helps. Also take one injecter harness plug and plug it in to the 3rd cylinder to make sure its not a wire issue.

Except he has 0 psi on a compression test of that cylinder. I would remove the valve cover and look for any more clues.

right now my money's on something valvetrain related. I'd definitely pop the valve cover and if you can, do a leakdown test. That will tell you exactly where to look.

Valve cover removal and leakdown test are both great suggestions. I'll make those my next two moves before taking off the head. Thanks guys.

Well I have still to get the valve cover off and no leak down. Just something I noticed today while I started it up for a bit. There is an audible tap, which sounds like its coming from the head. To me it doesn't sound like rod knock, but it doesn't sound all that light either. Is there anything that would be making a tap noise in the head and at same time cause the cylinder to lose compression?

My first thought is a valve is striking something.

take the valve cover off and have a looksie