So I called the mechanic this morning and asked him if he was able to do a leak down test. He said that he didn't do leak down tests but then later in the conversation he said he could do a cylinder pressure test but that it was a 4 hour job and there wasn't much point seeing as the compression reading was low and that the problem would be expensive to fix regardless (given that it's to do with the internals).

He also said that the numbers weren't rounded and were what his meter read on 3 trials.

I'm hearing a lot of conflicting things about whether the compression results are okay and I'm really in two minds as to whether I should buy this car. Called the dealer up and bargained him down an extra $1000 this morning after telling him about the results.

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed and whether it's a big issue or will the car still be safe (assuming I'm going to leave it stock and won't boost it)? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

Wasn't much point to do a leak down? Don't mind that a leak down will tell you exactly what is wrong in the motor... Its not a four hour job either. I would say it would only add an hour at the most to a standard compression test. This mechanic is lazy and slightly inept.

 

hey mate im from aus too and i know there isnt 100s of evos for sale but dont rush it . ur results arent "low" as i said earlier my compression test was around 150ish . its the consistency.. before i bought my car about 9 months ago now i checked out another evo which i was ready to buy and got a pre purchase inspection and everything and that resulted in 150ish in 3 cyl and 180 in one. the mech said that is very very unusual as its nearly brand new and didnt seem right , he is also a friend of mine so i asked his personal opinion and he said go with ur gut feeling, if you dont feel good about the car 100% keep looking around, the last thing you want to do is rush it .

you'd be spewing if you bought it and something big went wrong down the track, and this is why you get the pre purchase inspections done in the first place.

but with that in mind, you said your mech did round it off. so it coulda been around 150ish and low 170ish which isnt too bad. ask other mechanics that you trust for their opinion.

 

agreed ^

 

if it doesn't smoke it's all good.if you really want that car buy it.there is almost impossible to find ideal evo these days.sooner or later all of us will be dumping money into these cars.

 

terrible advice

 

maybe not the best but 100 different advices leaves the guy confused.

 

I think I'm confused already! ^ I've heard heaps of conflicting opinions so far and I'm about to walk away from this car (it's unfortunate because everything else on the car is immaculate).

I guess I just don't know how serious the problem is. If I did go through with a leak test it would help pin point what's wrong but in the end that problem is still likely to be very costly to fix. Right?

 

what are your plans for it? Beat the crap out of it and boost everywhere or just a nice car to boost on occasions. If the latter I would buy it. I bought an EVO 8 three months ago with worse comp numbers...150, 138, 170, 172 but it pulled strong and runs great. 4000 miles later and its going strong. Occasional boost and a lot of 115 mile commutes and its still doesn't miss a beat. Although I did boost quite a bit the first week haha.

I figured that all EVO engines would be a little beat and this one came with a sheppard rebuilt trans and transfer case which I was more worried about with the EVO anyway.

If it burns oil I would say its piston rings, if not prob valves a little burnt but who knows. You should be concerned about the timing belt tho since that is ~1000 if you have someone do it for you and needs replacement every 60k miles. But again, id buy it.

P.s. You do know your getting a boosted vehicle that can be very finicky and will require a lot of attention and love anyway right? Or have you only owned carollas?

 

Haha drove a Honda Accord until it died on me so it's a big step up in power to the Evo. Still, I know they're expensive to maintain and have budgeted that in.

My plans for the car are to keep it stock and use it as a daily. It'd obviously take it for a spirited drive at times but tbh I won't be thrashing it hard everywhere I go (that's the plan at least). I just want to make sure if I did buy it that the engine would hold up (until I do a planned rebuild a few years down the track when I've got more money).

I'm getting it for a good price so it's very tempting...

 

Can't guarantee nothing will go wrong but it seems like it won't randomly implode on you for no reason, those seem to be reasonable numbers to me. Maybe just some worn rings or valves, maybe do a coolant test for a head gasket and keep an eye on all the fluids.

 

I gave you the numbers that Mitsubishi says is a good engine. The trouble is your mechanic looks to have rounded the numbers to 170 or 150. In other words, you are worrying about the results of a test where you have no usable test results.

 

I spoke to the mechanic this morning and he said the numbers were not rounded and were what was read on his meter (a blue point or something from memory).

The 14psi max difference between cylinders is exceeded here so I decided not to go ahead and buy the car. It might have been nothing but the risk of something going wrong down the track was too great so I'll wait it out for a cleaner one to come along. Appreciate all the help from you guys though.