how hard should it be to turn over a engine by hand?
 

i have my motor sitting in the gurage, i tryed turning it over by hand (well, with a big ass wrench) when i first got it and couldnt get it to turn after a point, i just changed my spark plugs and now it turns ultra easy, like just as easy as with the spark plugs out.

rotaries are fairly easy to turn over by hand, i often turn the engine over by the pullies when i am working with the belts or CAS.

How long has this engine been sitting ?

i just baught a compression checker at the auto parts store and i couldnt get it to regester anything, is my motor screwed :(

I put a socket wrench on the 19mm and it turns really easily

Well did the compression tester get sealed good against housing and how did you turn the motor over is it in a car ?

I bought one of those from auto zone I have alot of trouble with the O ring on the end twisting and not sealing or if you get it to tight it pinches the O ring .

when checking the compression be sure to remove the shrader valve at the end of the tester so u can watch the bounces of each face. if you didnt it wont work correctly. one could have more or less depending on the compression rings, but yes all rotories spin nice and easy dont worry about that.
another thing the oil thats injected into the engine helps the compression so id put some oil in each side then check it.
also let me know if your turning the engine over by hand or if you put it in a car and turning it over with a starter cause that can be an issue.

Exactly what I was going to say. Get in the car, turn it over by key with a friend and check compression with the tester button held in. A good engine will be 120psi for each face of the rotor. A bad engine will be 80psi or less, sometimes zero if the seal is shot, or worse yet, missing.

What you said about the spark plugs scares me! telling us what the PSI is for each of the 3 rotor faces will tell us alot about your engines condition.

me to.

Gil

Sometimes I put the 19mm socket on my cordless drill and turn it over that way. Here are two pics fo the drill set up. This turns the motor almost as fast as the starter.

ok, i just baught the motor from a company called tiger japan, the motor was rated at 44,000 miles and is a s5. when ever i turn it i can hear it 'woosh' with the intake and exhaust strokes, but the compression tester reads absolutly nothing on both rotors though three full rotations on each. the motor is out of the car so this is no chance of me being able to use the starter. i have no idea how long the motor was sitting before i receved it. but i am scared about the spark plug thing, i didnt try to force it with the old plugs in, but i wont say i didnt try and turn it over. i'll try putting some oil in it today to help it seal a little and try again with the compression tester tightened down a little more. i have little time before the warrenty is up and there is no way i can afford a rebuild right now, wether i do it my self or not. i think i might try using the compression tester on my old engine too, if i can get it to read something off that one then i know its the motor not the tester. my old s4 motor has been sitting for almost a year now and is no doubt in alot worse condishion. but it should be showing something on one of the rotor faces right? all the seals on both rotors couldnt all be bad right?

bump

You need to use the starter to do a compression test. You need at least 300rpm to get a reading. You can't do a compression test by hand. If the motor is going to be sitting for a while you should spray some fogging oil into it,

i hope your right, my warrenty is up in a week and a few days, so i need to know now if its good or not, this friday i plan to pull the turbo and check the apex seals through the exhaust ports

Did you get the motor to turn over???