Problems HELP! Low compression and oil burning
 

My truck has burned oil since i bought it, but it wasnt too bad. I took a wheeling trip to joshua tree this past weekend, and it was fine the whole weekend until my drive home. I was cruising down the freeway and after about 30 minutes i noticed the engine temp had risen to about 3/4 so i cranked the heater to pull as much heat out of the coolant as possible, then pulled over and popped the hood, everything seemed ok... so i revved the engine up a lil to get the fan speed higher and after about 5 minutes it cooled to normal temp. I hopped back on the freeway and about 30 minutes later i had to pull over again to let it cool down, i ended up having to pull over two more times to let it cool off, and i couldnt get above 65mph or it would heat up, and that is with the heater cranked. When i got home i checked my oil and it was a little below the E, although i changed my oil thursday (this happened sunday, yesterday) and it was full after i changed the oil.

I checked the coolant and it is fine, and there is no coolant in the oil, nor oil in the coolant.

I pulled the spark plugs today and they were really hard to get out, had carbon deposits on them, and they were white (means they are burning hot). They also had a huge gap, and the electrode is worn down to one side (side towards the piece sticking up).

I did a compression test today and they all came out low, 1-5 are at 75 and #6 is at 65.

I have heard many different things, and searched and read many different things. I have been told that it is a blown head gasket on that side that is broken at #6... but that does not explain why the rest of them are low. I have been told that it is blown heads... I also have been told that it could be a cracked block...

I also have been told that the oil burning problem could be the PCV valve being bad...

This truck is my DD, and my only vehicle... Right now i have to bum rides from family, and it sucks. I also do not really have the money for this... So i am kinda screwed... I really do not want to put money into this engine if it is major, i would REALLY like to do a 5VZFE swap, but dont have the money to drop on it.

Can somebody help me out, and let me know whats goin on please :think:

I do not think I have ever seen compression numbers that low on a truck that is running. The low numbers aside the difference between number 6 and the rest of them proves something is wrong. Try shooting some oil down the spark plug holes and run the compression tests again. Where did the oil go did you see it smoking? Did it run out the side?

The truck runs great, i have had no problems with it other than it burning oil, until now... And actually... #6 was running at 50 then i put oil down into it and it was running 65... The truck does not leak at all, so i guess it has to be burning it, but there is no smoke...

How is the battery? I've done compression tests on cars with weak batteries and then used a good battery and have had numbers jump as much as 30 psi. It is also not uncommon for the tester to be off.

i was thinking about that - how well was the tester portion into the spark plug hole?

TO ME that seems like alot of oil burn with no smoke.......

If comp was 50 PSI and then with a shot of oil it jumped to 65 PSI, that is an indacation that the rings on the number 6 are at or very near the end of thier life and with the rest of the of them at 75 I start saying that engine needs a full rebuild (top and bottom). Running the compression test with the oil filler cap off will also confirm the PCV. If the numbers jump up with the oil filler off then yes there is a problem with the PCV. How many miles on the engine? There are no traces of oil leaking out of the engine?

Um... As far as i know my battery is ok... On the trip i had problems with it, i was out on a night run and had my pair of 55w Hella FF1000's going, pair of 55w Hella Projector fogs going, my 65w high beams going, my 300w sub amp going, as well as the radio and normal stuff, and i noticed that when i came to a stop the FF1000's dimmed, and the battery light came on, so i turned the FF1000's, fogs, and the system off, and kicked my headlights to low beams, and it was ok, so i guess i was just overloading the alternator. The next morning when i started the truck the starter sounded weak as hell, cranked slow and weak sounding, but i ran the truck the entire day as we did some more wheeling, and all was good that day until i was heading home and the truck heated up...

As for the tester, it is my grandpa's... Its got a threaded connector that screws down into the hole, and is attached to a hose that is attached to the guage with quick disconnects.

The truck itself has 241k on it... But it is not the original engine, i think this engine has around 65k on it, but i cant prove it. The lady i bought it off of gave me paperwork for the swap, which turned out to be fruadulent paperwork. I do know the engine is not the original though, i had the dealer look up my vin, and compared the engine block serials and they are different.

you could try a leakdown tester if you have compressed air. sounds to me like bent valves, bad guides or rings. 4 things, vacumn gauge, leakdown tester, compression tester, and co tester

either way, i think it's time for a rebuild.

Yeah, well i dont want to put the money into this engine for a rebuild... So i think im going to find a wrecked tacoma V6 stick and buy it... Swap the 5VZFE into my truck, sell the salvagable parts from the wrecked truck, then scrap the wrecked body, and scrap my 3vze... Thats the plan for now, but we will see how that goes... In the mean time, im going to put my truck back together and use it just to go to work and school...

You can try the diesel-in-the-crankcase trick and try and get the rings `back' a little but swap/rebuild may be in order. Drain 1/2 the oil, fill the rest up with diesel. Start the truck and let it idle for 5-10 minutes (watch the temp). Now drain everything, let it drip for a few hours, then fill back up with whatever oil you use.

This sometimes can salvage a little bit of compression for a while...

If you have a wrecked 5v for a donor so you can get all the nitnoid stuff then that soulds like a good plan....bare mins you need the eng and the eng ecu...i think the 5v have different computer for the tranny too..if so then you might need the tranny and the tranny ecu....

Did you do the comp test with all the plugs out?

How is that going to do anything for the rings?? Secondarily diesel may be lubricative in nature, but it is no where lubricative enough to keep bearings together in a running engine. Several of the Duramaxx guys have accidnetally gotten diesel in their crankcases - which destroyed their engines rather quickly...

Not trying to be an ass, I just fail to see how doing that would make any difference other than to destroy bearings faster.

This is an old tick that also is/was suggested by famous Mr. Mark Whatley. For what it does for the rings themselves, I'm not sure. Yes I have tried this w/ 1/2 20-50 oil, 1/4 ATF, 1/4 diesel. This was for a dying, beaten engine with very similar conditions to MorphiasX's. I did get better compression #s and performance afterwards. I would say this only on the last life of the engine.

No load is supposed to be put on the engine and the drain is supposed to be done completely. Of course not all of it will get out.

If you're going to trash the engine anyway it may be worth a shot.

If you read on auto-rx's website there stuff did amazing results on compression results boosting. I know this merely a band-aid fix if for any effect. But if a rebuild does outweigh the cost than a 5vzfe drop in. That i guess a motor swap is in order.

Yes all the plugs were out when i did the test...

try putting the plugs in and doing one hole at a time that way you can see if its leaking between cylinders