thanks dale, could you please? The thing that makes me think its not the rings is that there is no smoke or anyhitng from the exhaust, and i thought if you had burned up rings it would smoke a lot

 

it might, but not always.
Rings control compression. The oil control rings have so little force on them, they usually barely wear out.
Smoking is usually the valve stem seals with the oil riding the shaft down to the intake and getting burned up in combustion. There are other sources for smoking, but summed it up for this series of problems.

A way that some people check for proof positive on rings is by putting about a capful of oil (like quart bottle) into the spark plug hole. It will act as a sealant, so if the numbers go up they know it is the rings, if not, then it is valve train or something else.

 

pul out the dipstick while the car is running, if you see steam oil vapour then you got problems. also the oil in spark plug hole compression test is good too.

 

k, i think its the piston rings, i pulled the valve covers and turned the motor over by hand and saw all the pushrods move up nad down openeing and closing the valves, so i doubt its the vavles. unless im missing something. but if it was the rings, thats funny how the other three cylinders have almost perfect compression, the guage went up to 200 after a couple cranks on those cylinders. but if it is the rings then, its something i can do in my driveway? everyone i tell is like, oh man, thats serious stuff, you cant do it urself you have to take it to a shop. but i thot i can just take the heads off, undo the motor mounts, jack up the engine till i get the oil pan off, undo those caps to those cylinders and push the piston up and pull it from top, rerring it and lube it up and push it back down the motor and torq the caps to spec. but my g.f dad is like there is no way you can get a ring to fit that hole perfect since ur motors worn.

 

if they all rock, that means the cam is good. Doesnt tell you have valves to tight.

I'll scan that book tonight. I also typed it out years ago on here, hopefully the search button works and I can find it.
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https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/2...highlight=lash


easy find.

 

to do in drive way will not be easy. In some seblamnce of order, but not exact.
1. get the front end up on stands
2. remove exhaust mani's
3. rotate engine to #1 TDC, remove entire intake (remember to remove plugs when you rotate engine)
4. remove heads (remember to drain all fluids first)
5. remove engine mount bolt nuts
6. hook up cherry picker, or jack from under car with a 2X4 section on jack plate. When you have a little tension on the engine remove engine mount through bolts. Continue to jack up untill you can fit sections of 4X4 between engine side mount and frame rail. This will give you the needed room to remove oil pan and support the engine well. Once the 4X4 sections are in, remove jack.
7. remove oil pan.
8. remove the offending caps from connecting rods.
9. with a rubber mallet SOFTLY tap the rods off crank (you have a choice to do weither or not you have help)
1. install a length of rubber hose onto one or both of the rod bolts.
2. (yes yet another use for duct tape) wrap the end with 2-3 layers of duct tape.
GENTLY push the assembly up. If you are doing this by yourself, I suggest the duct tape meathod. Don't laugh, it works great, done it many times and have never scored the walls yet.
If you have help you can use the rubber hose meathod, but you do have to pay attention and use the hose to keep the rod entered and not hit the wall.
10. remove old rings and install new bearings if doing so. even if not, coat bearings with assebly lube.
11. see if you can borrow a "roundness or out of round guage" from someone and see how bad (if at all) the cylinder walls are. The manual will have the limits and instructions in it.
12. install new rings. coat piston with oil. use the piston ring compressor and guide the assembly back in, again using that length of rubber hose to prevent the rod from hitting the cyl wall, or the duct tape. When you get to where you have to tap the piston down, use common sense and do it GENTLY with either a rubber mallet, or a peice of wood on top of the piston to protect it.
11. continue to remove and replace the offending rings/pistons and start from #8 and go the reverse.

TAKE YOUR TIME. DO NOT think of it as the whole job, take it in steps. It is not hard, just a bunch of simple steps that make you think it is.

When I did my first engine rebuild I was like and thinking what the hell am I doing.
But I broke it down into simple steps, and took those steps one at a time.
later that night I was stoked as hell to hear that thing rumbling in the car on open headers!

duct tape, just another use...

 

thanks man! yea, since my other cylinders have good compression, wouldnt you think the other cylinders wiill be almost the same, so putting new rings on it i shouldnt have to worry about machining or getting anything to fit right? should i only replace the ones i have to then?

 

so I read ur directions for setting rocker arms, and its the same one i followed for FWD motor, and i also read people having hard time and having it be tightended to much causing no compression. so my question is, would it make the guage read 0 if they were open? and second, if i do my valves, could i roll the motor over with the valve covers off, intake and plenum and all just to check compression with a guage before puttingeverything back together?

 

1. yes it will effect things if they are too tight.
2. yes the guage would read -0- if they were open
3. yes you could crank the motor with everything off, you would just need to reset the crank (#1 TDC) before putting in distributor.

 

i still got the distri. inthere. so im going to loosen those valves a thread and check compression. keep messing iwth them till i see compression. If the rings were worn, wont it still give a reading tho on the guage, if the valves were working right?

 

on the 90psi one, it could be right on the boarderline of opening. IIRC depending on if its intake and exaust will depend on what the reading is.


I just spin the motor by the crank, but yes you can bump the starter n do all that with the upper 2/3 off.

 

**************UPDATE*************************



















I HAVE COMPRESSION ON ALLL SIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


200 PSI.


Thank you all, but..its not over yet, haha..i gotta put it back together and see if it starts, no doubt in my mind it will tho, thats all the problem was, it was runnin on 3 cylinders! lol

 

Congrats man

 

yep, now i just gotta start it.haha...im REpainting some of the pieces before i stick it back together, it did look pretty before the motor went back in, buti n the process of taking stuff apart and hitting stuff and all that stuff it got a little dirty.haha..and greasy, but definatly thanks to all of you all who helped me!!! ill keep ya posted to tell yall if i got it for sure!

 

 

that's what were here for

 

well, she started right up! ran like a champ, minus a vaccum leak, it idles perfect except after u give it gas then it accl a little, cuase if the vaccum leak i assume

 

vac leak could still be a valve, but it could also be gaskets (esp if you re-used any).

Go drive it for a while, its been down so long you'll just be happy to drive it.

 

welp, i discovered an oil leak on the drivers side. I cant seem to find where its comming from but Good lord, it almost pours out. Iono if it might be the dipstick tube? its not the dizzy. Will a head gaskeet leak oil? i thot they leaked mostly antifreeze. I hope its not that tho. what else would cause it to leak a lot on the drives side?

 

oil pressure sending uint?
yes the head gasket can leak oil.

 

depends on "where at on the left side".

Up front, timing cover, intake, valve cover.

Middle. Valve cover, opsu, oil filter.

Rear, valve cover main area, intake, dizzy, rear main seal.

 

so was is just that the rockers were to tight? when I had mine running it sounded like a lawnmower and shook like a wet dog. Man how did you get your car to fire? I've stabbed that dizzy so many times I'm dizzy. I've even replaced the ICM and can't get it to hit a lick. I'm still going to test the fuel pressure but it all takes time. I'm now replacing the clutch in my grand am so the camaro will have to wait.

 

all i can tell you is,..BUY A COMPRESSION GUAGE. haha..thats the last thing i waited to get, and sure enough, i had no compression in 2 cylinders causeing it to shake like a wet dog.lol.. when i found out which two they were i popped off the valve coves and loosend those rockers enough to spin the pushrod a little then did a little moer of a turn to tighten it a TAD. then got compression then i bolted everything back up and fired right up to disvoer an oil leak from hell

 

we do not suggest buying tools that are no good, and you will never use.

 

compression is one of the basic signs of a healthy engine... I use mine whenever I buy a new car, and to periodically check my engine.... Why is that not useful?

 

89firebirdguy how did you adjust your rockers. I am trying to do this and it is not working for me.