need some help doing my valve springs. i put cams at tdc crank at tdc and ziptied everything and did everything on evomoto. for some reason i cant keep any psi in my piston, i hook up a compressor to the spark plug and build up compressor and then open valve and it slowly drains ~10psi/min. so i cant do piston's 2 & 3 because that are at bdc. i got 1 and 4 done because they are at tdc. just cant keep any psi in 2 or 3. idk what it could be. i can hear it leaking but i cant tell where its going. i know it could be piston rings / valve seals / head gasket. if it could be anything else please lend me a hand. i dont want to pull timing belt and turn crank....please help

 

Hate to tell you this but if your doing springs you shouldnt have cams in place. There is no reason at all you cant do all 4 cylinders. there is nothing holding the valves open without cams in place. If the car ran fine before you replaced cams you shouldnt have an issue. If you are hearing anything., you should consider either you need a valve job or rings--but dont jump to conclusions, just finish your work and report back.

 

the cams are out right now (so all vavles are closed), but i cant change the spring with pistons 2 and 3 at BDC because the valve would fall into the cylinder so i have to use ~80psi to hold the valve up. but it wont hold any psi in the cylinder just wondering what could be happening

 

Can you hear where the air is going? Exhaust, intake, coming back up through the head oil drain holes?