rwpirate

I have a 91 truck with the 22re moter in it. I was driving when I noticed that the trucks idle started to surge. I know from in the past that my antifreeze my be low. I do belive that I have a very small leak in my waterpump. Instead of replacing I just add some antifreeze about every six months. It must have leaked a little quicker. I filled up the radiator and started home. I must have put the radiator cap on crooked because after about 5 minutes the motor blew the cap off and spewed water all over the inside of the hood and motor. Steam was coming out all over. I immediately pulled over and the temp guage only went up a little over half way. After that the truck would not start.

I brought it home and this is what I have checked so far.

I have spark to all four cylinders
My compression is low. Cyl#1 90#, #2 90#, #3 80# #4 30#
Motor has 170,000 miles and I know the rings are bad because motor is starting to smoke a little. I contribute some of the compression loss to this.
I tried using strarter fluid but it makes no attempt to start.
Distributer cap inside of the boot doesn't appear to be wet but it did get wet at the base. It has been sitting now for about 8 hours to dry out but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.

I need to get it running as soon as I can. I signed the deal last night for a brand new truck. I just have to get this one to the lot because it is part of the deal. I'm not real concerned about how well it is driving. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. I know my underlying fear is the head gasket but I'm hoping for something a little easier.

rwpirate

Doesn't anyone have any suggestions. I'm getting ready to work on it some more.

rdlsz24

So when you try and start it, it just cranks and cranks? Does it crank fast or slow?

Rob

mt_goat

Will they let you just tow it in?

Asha'man

Cylinders should be within 10% of each other on a compression test, so your #4 looks a bit problematic. Could be a head gasket.

rwpirate

I had a buddy who is a head mechanic at a ford dealer. He said to put oil in each of the cylinders and if was the rings that would temporarly help seel the cylinders. So I did that and it brought up the compression on the last cylinder some. While pulling off a spark plug wire it broke the end of so they appeared to be brittle. The distributer cap was covered in the antifreeze. So I went and got new plugs, cap, rotor and wires. Then it started up and ran better than it did yesterday. I guess something was wet and I either replaced it or it dried out over night. Still looking forward to getting a new truck tomorrow. Thanks for all of the comments. I do need to drive it onto the lot for the trade to happen.