shawn84&92

I assume the bottom end is good, because the car does run, doesn't smoke, and holds good oil pressure.
Around 200 lbs of compression in other cylinders, I did a quick check just to see which one was low, and #2 has 0 lbs.
My guess is a valve, valve spring or lifter.

To Carlege,
I work on my own cars, and knew the car needed maintenance, but I don't want to get into pulling the head etc. I did sunroof gears, tensioner pads, rebuilt a ball joint, and had the timing belt done.
I love the car, but I am at the point I don't want to invest any more in it. It will be a good car for someone that wants to do some work themselves. I have too many major project cars, and don't need another one.

Scott at Team Harco,
I am not quite ready to sell it that cheap yet, but thanks for the offer. If it doesn't sell, I will contact you.

Thanks for the replies guys, I hope I can find her a good home.

carlege

How do you know its not something very minor and your just jumping the gun. Could be your wiring harness has split and isnt firing on one injector

sillbeer

It could be something simple, but as you stated, you don't want to get into it and I respect that. Also, you have a PM.

Makis

You still need to know what exactly is wrong otherwise people will shy away from making an offer. Burned valve caused by a broken valve spring I suspect is common as it happened to my S2. And yes compression will show 0.

peanut

how would you propose that the op does that exactly ? they have already stated that they don't have the time to strip it.

Jfrahm

It takes 20 minutes to get the cam cover off, do you have time if you can pay yourself $1000 per hour to determine if it's a valve or not?

peanut

I notice that you haven't made any constructive contribution to this thread to help the OP yet so i assume that you are just looking to flame but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt

How will removing the cam cover tell you if the piston has a hole in it or the valve seat is cracked or the valve edge burned ???
Persoanlly I wouldn't waste my time removing the cam coverwhich will tell me nothing
. I'd use a boroscope through the plug hole

67King

Because one cylinder has 0PSI when he does a compression test.

WHoever was quiestioning removing the cam cover.......that will tell you if a valve is not fully closing. That would be my guess based on what I've read. Valve stuck open, hit piston, bent, and isn't moving. And not everyone has access to a boroscope.

peanut

if a valve had stuck open and hit the piston don't you think the op will be able to hear that when he runs the engine ? doh..

Removing the cam cover will tell you nothing you don't know already .
Boroscopes can be hired anywhere. Any Building Surveyor is likely to have one.

Anyway its all speculation, The op has made it clear he has too much work on to tackle this and you are just arguing for the sake of it. Its easy to jump on the band waggon now when several other posters have already made the reasonable appraisal that either the piston is holed or a valve is not sealing

shawn84&92

I understand that it would help to know the problem, and I may pull the valve cover, to see if I can get any info from that.
It is not a simple fix, since compression is zero.
there is no knocking like a valve hitting piston. It hink it is in the valve or spring.

Any ideas of its value?

theiceman

i f there was a hole in that cylinder he would be spewing smoke like a crop duster .. it is a burned or busted valve. Relatively simple fix for those who know how to time cams and assuming everything else is fine a great deal for a Porsche. take the head off . replace the valve and away you go if you don't want to bother with triple angle grinds etc. it is obvious the O.P does not want the work but a great opportunity for someone with a trailer.

67King

No. In some cases, certainly. But in most, no. It doesn't take much to bend a valve enough to make it stick open in the guide. If you have a sticky guide, slowing the closing of the valve, all the piston has to do is kiss it.

That is what happened to the guy who was pitted across from us at Road Atlanta a few weeks ago. See f1rocks' post in this thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...weekend-4.html

Notice the last thing he writes.........no more bent valves

Makis

OK, taking off the valve cover will reveal if any valve springs are broken. If the they are and the valve is an exhaust valve then that is most likely burned and causing the 0 psi. The good news is that the valve springs are double springs and they don't both brake which stops the valve dropping into the engine. Unfortunately the one that brakes is the hard one. This caused the engine to run poorly and you get a lot of valve float at higher rpm which eventually burns the valve (if is an exhaust). No problem with the inlet valves apart of poor running. To test for broken valve spring you remove the cover, and with the cams in situe you can try to press the lifters in. If you can push easily then that will be a broken spring. The good valve springs will require considerable pressure to push.

Jfrahm

Flaming? Suggesting that the car is worth far, far more if the cause of the 0 psi compression is determined insults no one I can think of.

If the seller understands that only a small amount of time needs to be invested and a large amount of money could be realized perhaps an hour could be set aside for this endeavor.

-Joel.

Grandpa#3

Gents, cut the OP some slack. No one on here is able to walk in the OP"s shoes. We do not know what his personal life is like right now, the stresses he may be under, or the time constraints. There are only 24 hours in a day and that can get filled real quick with too many projects, work and quality time at home. The frustration level for each of us is different and will very with the daily pressures of life. We all know these cars are money pits, but we keep on throwing money into them just for the pleasure of driving our cars. Sometimes we just have to cut our losses and move on to more meaningful things in life. Just my $0.02

Cheers,
Larry