I'm finishing putting my Evo back together after 3 years. I want to make sure the car will start before I do any final vacuum hose/wiring routing, battery relocation, etc.

It has spark, fuel, but my compression tester is showing 0-30 psi depending on the cylinder yet it is hard to crank over by hand, builds compression and can hear the air release when the valves open. Timing is dead on and has been checked several times. I put some oil in 2 different spark plug holes and still nothing. I'm using a new battery with a charger that holds about 9.6-9.9 volts when cranking.

As far as the fuel, it's the same 1/4 tank of gas that's been in it for 3 years with some Lucas fuel additive. The pistons are wet as well as the spark plugs. Just bought 2 new sets of plugs and used starting fluid with no luck. The only vacuum lines used at the moment is from the intake manifold to the BOV then teed to the FPR. The only SES codes I'm getting are all relate to the EGR being deleted.

I've check all the fuses that would cause the car to not start, cam angle sensor is installed correctly. Next I'm gonna drain the gas tank(any suggested way to do that?)

This is on a 2.3L 9.0:1 comp motor, stock injectors at this time to keep from flooding the motor.

I spent the last 4 days on this, did all the searching for answers that I could so what could I be missing. Thanks in advance for your time. I will keep everyone updated as I TRY to make progress.

 

I'd suggest swapping in some fresh fuel and trying a different compression tester.

 

How would I go about draining the gas tank?

 

By removing the 17mm drain plug on the gas tank.

Any healthy motor should see about 150-160psi on a compression test. Are you using the starter to crank the motor or are you trying to do it by hand?

 

Great, I thought I'd have to drop the tank. I'm cranking with the starter and at full throttle.

 

Either there's something horribly wrong with your compression gauge or the motor if you're only getting 30psi. Try a different compression tester and report back.

 

I will be borrowing a Snap-On tester from work. I'm hoping it's that simple as got the deal of lifetime on this brand new stroker block from a reputable shop and can't afford to replace it. I'll also check for clogs in both sets of injectors and flush out the fuel lines.

 

would there be compression right away before break in on a new engine?

 

This is just a maybe. With the low compression I was thinking if the piston rings weren't lined up properly and that could cause the low compression.
Thats just a thought.

 

Do a leak down test

 

I got the gas drained and refilled with 91 along with a little bit water remover, octane booster, and fuel system cleaner. I removed the intake manifold and inside, it was completely coated with oil and that old gas. The oil made it's way through the valve cover vent into the intake and back to the manifold. There was small puddles of gas in the lower i/c pipes. So my guess is the gas wasn't igniting, flooded, then got forced out the exhaust ports on the head.

I rented another compression tester and got the same results, no compression, which doesn't make sense to me. I removed the valve cover and whole turbo assembly to check the valves and everything looks good. It was still pushing out compressed air and had resistance upon the compression stroke when I rotated the motor by hand and I also watched the cams as they open/closed the valves and that looks good.

I'm gonna do a leak down test to see what's going on before I put everything back together. This is the exact reason that I like to make sure the car will start before it's put back together, the i/m, i/c, and turbo assembly come off in minutes.

 

not good, no compression is that situations means somethings wrong with the valves or timing,something is stuck open, maybe lifter or sticking valves?you have no compression on all the clys? if so somethings is ***;d

 

Haven't though about this one yet. I forgot to mention that I put about 3 caps of motor oil in the #1 spark pull hole today and the compression went to 70psi, I released the air and cranked again and got 0 so it could make sense with the rings not seated and still sitting with 0 miles. I'll try to look this up.

 

Hopefully its not a serious problem I'd hate to hear that after 3 years. My car was down almost 2 years so I know how you feel. I'd cry for you if the motor was at fault

 

Not sure if you were the one that called the shop the other day.

Anyway the person I talked with said that they broke a crank pulled the motor and never took the head off and tossed a new crank in. After the conversation had me thinking maybe they put a 2.0 crank in would would kill the compression if it was ment to be a 2.3.

If I feel like I have flooded a motor out I will undo the injectors and pour about a table spoon worth of oil in each hole and Crank on it for a little while with the plugs out. Also new plugs are key. Once plugs are real wet even when dry and clean they will not be right. Its amazing the amount of time I have seen people spend trying to make car start and it was only a fresh set of plugs away.