Hi all,
New user here, I bought my '08 GSR in Jan 2018 and I love it. It has 107k on the odo, and i've been smelling some slight burning of what I assume is oil. Oil levels seem fine, my friends say there's a puff of white smoke out the exhaust when i accel in 4th or 5th gear pulls. I figured it was time for an oil change, a buddy told me to do a compression test. I thought nothing of it, the car runs fine, it should read green numbers. I got a Harbor freight gauge and warm tested with WOT at 110,95,95,110. Now I'm paranoid, I'm calling all kinds of shops, and I'm hearing different things. First guy who owned an Evo IX told me it's fine, the compression should be low since it's a high boost pressure running turbo, and it could be a cheap gauge. I bought that for about 5 mins. Everyone else is saying I have to do a complete rebuild, which I find questionable with replacing valves AND rods AND pistons.

I still haven't done a leak down test yet, I want to find a reputable shop that won't charge too much in the LA/ South Bay area. Has anyone seen this before? Am I daily driving a ticking time bomb? I am assuming I'm going to have to open up the engine and do a piston ring change at the very least. If anyone has any advice on how I can save some money and feel secure with my compression, I would really appreciate all your help, thanks!

 

Leak down test will tell you if it's rings or valves. No point in freaking out too much until then.

 

I just paid Road Race $100 to do leak down test a few months back. Mine had a valve leak.

 

what made you perform a leak down initially?
-one cylinder losing compression, or all linear just like my situation?
might tell me more of what I should be looking into.

What are your plans of tackling your valve leak? Thanks for letting me know about RRE, I did call them once but the guy on the phone was a complete derp, but I wanna hear about your experience with their techs and service.