1990 dodge shadow 2.5L turbo HELP

[turbokid]

^thank you for clarifyin =)

[Ares]

does anyone know what the compression is supposed to be on each cylinder i called autozone and they dont know is this something i can find out from the dodge dealer??

[turbokid]

between 130-150 thats a good healthy motor
115- and under is usually an older motor or a not so healthy
100 is bare minimum you wanna be at for a *running* motor
You want the compression to fairly equal across the board
Leak down test would also be helpful in your case

[Ares]

ok got the compression results

1-75
2-60
3-25
4-65

[turbokid]

Not so good. That 25 is really bad
I would look at that piston and ringland forsure!
You did the compression test at WOT right?
That compression is no good
Time to take the head off of that car

[90vntShadow]

OMG. Sounds like you probably have more problems than just a
head gasket. Pull the head and check it out. When you have the head off
you can get a valve job and you can drop the pan and pull the pistons out
the bottom and replace the rings and bearings if needed or get another
motor or do a rebuild. Pull the head first and go from there.

[phantomrt]

Assuming the compression test was done properly. I don't really know anybody who's posted in this thread so I have no idea what to expect. I've seen people crank engines by hand and seeing what kind of compression results from it. Some never got the compression tester to seal in the spark plug hole. Some never get the throttle open when they crank it.

Assuming the compression test was done correctly, the 75 65 65 readings are very consistent, and very low. I say the camshaft timing is not correct and causing that. It would be a heck of a coincidence for all three of those cylinders to go bad that equally. As for the 25 PSI one, I do not know what to say at this point. Dump some oil in it and see if the compression goes up. Just a tablespoon of oil. If compression goes up, the low compression is not caused by a head gasket issue.

The smoke could be something as simple as an exhaust manifold stud leaking--they screw into the coolant passages in the cylinder head and they can leak and get all over the hot manifold.

This thing also sat two years. A mouse could have made a next on the exhaust manifold and that is burning away along with all sorts of other stuff. I've left cars sit for 2+ years with a 1/4 full tank of gas and never had a problem.

[Ares]

at this point sadly im done with the car i have not the time or the money to fix it sadly i start college in october and i need somthing that runs soild as far as running the compression test we screwed the tester into each spark plug hole then my dad had me turn the key but as stated before i havent the time or the money to be doing rebuilds i need somthing that runs and soon so if any of you live in flordia the car is forsale for 500obo on criaglist thanks for all your help guys i just dont have the resources to give this thing the tlc it needs