I just purchased a 93 pickup and started going over it this weekend to fix some things and change the fluids. I decided to do a dry/wet compression test and came up with the following values:

Altitude 5700ft.

Dry - 150-120-140-120
Wet - 150-130-150-125

I've read a few different answers to this but haven't seen a solid response. From what I understand, with a wet test you will always see an increase, it just shouldnt be drastic. Is this a correct assumption?

I also hear what appears to be a ticking but I'm lead to believe that there is an exhaust leak at the manifold or downpipe and noticed some black soot coming from the exhaust at cold startup.

I've included some pics of the rig.


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Not sure what the 22RE compression spec is but you definitely have a couple of low cylinders. The wet check helps to determine if it's rings or valves. If the low compression is caused by worn rings then the wet test will raise pressure quite a bit, possibly back to 150 psi like the other two. If the valves (or possibly a HG) are bad, the pressure won't come up very much--like what you're seeing.

I would guess that you have worn valves/seats, burned exhaust valves, or too tight valve adjustment.

A leakdown test would tell you exactly where the problem lies. If the valves are adjusted properly then I'd say a head rebuild would be in the future.

 

x2.. and spec i bealive is 170 or 175..so warm up ur motor and adjust ur valves and try again and see if it helps