think my car has low compression....it's getting harder to start when warm....so did you guys just drive it around until it couldn't drive anymore, or at some point did you just get a new engine?

 

At some point it asks you to get a new engine.

 

When my engine was near death I decided to drive until it dies. At death I threw an apex seal and damaged the rotor and housing. Upon buying a new engine several of the top engine builders were going to charge extra for the parts that were destroyed.....

 

I found out i had low compression and a bad FPD so i said screw it and now im having it rebuilt at Pineapple. Yeah dont let it die because when a seal blows its gonna take alot out with it.

 

you gotta be careful with driving the car...a broken seal might shoot into the turbo, damaging that too. then you gotta pay for new turbos on top of the rebuild.

 

Here's what I do:
a. Don't check the compression. If I don't know how bad it is, I don't know how good it could be.

b. Tell myself that the lumpy idle is normal and it should run that way.


Hope that helps
I've made it a couple of years with this logic. (although I don't think that my compression is THAT bad....see it works)

 

i haven't heard of many apex seals breaking and ruining turbos JUST because they are old. Flying apex seals are usually a result of lean conditions.
it's more likely that apex seal springs are becoming fatigued and side seals are becoming worn, letting out compression.

 

ok, guess i'll try to drive her for another few months...maybe around summer i'll get a new engine. hopefully nothing like the seals taking out the turbo will happen...

 

FWIW, my original motor had low compression for about 35,000 miles of its 102,543-mile lifespan. I would have driven on the old motor longer, but she finally failed from a bad coolant O-ring seal.

 

I make the guy who rebuilt my engine last summer check it everytime I take it to him for some mickey mouse thing I don't want to deal with.

He said he'd rebuild it for free if it didn't improve so I'm just making sure every service order I has shows the compression....it still screams (356 rwhp on the dyno) but it's annoying to see low compression numbers and thinking your car could be faster.

 

That's also my philosophy to ignore the stumbles at idle, but it can be depressing to think the loss of compression is keeping my car from being faster. I have also heard that when a motor blows it can take other stuff, like the turbos, with it so thats always something to think about. But then you get to think about getting a street port