On Mar 20, 10:25*pm, jon_banquer wrote:
On Mar 20, 7:14*pm, Ed Huntress wrote:









On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:53:49 -0700 (PDT), jon_banquer

wrote:
On Mar 20, 6:49 pm, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:35:00 -0700 (PDT), jon_banquer

wrote:
On Mar 20, 6:24 pm, jon_banquer wrote:
On Mar 20, 6:04 pm, Ed Huntress wrote:

On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:59:49 -0400, wrote:
On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:49:22 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:42:16 -0700, "PrecisionmachinisT"
wrote:

"Ken Grunke" wrote in message
....

I am assuming there has to be a separate check valve INLINE between the
plug adapter and the gauge below the release valve. That is what I am
missing. It may be a fitting I had, but absent-mindedly misplaced.

Could be a spring and or check ball is missng or gunked up at the spark plug
fitting end...

--FWIW blowing into the end with your mouth probably won't produce enough
hose expansion to actuate a ball type check valve.

Sorry for jumping into the middle without having read the thread, but
there are two kinds of compression testers: the regular kind, which
have a button to activate the check-release valve; and leak-down
testers, which have no such valve.

I have both. They look almost the same. Perhaps, if Ken's tester
doesn't have a check valve, he has a leakdown tester. If so, it will
have a spark-plug-thread terminal end. Regular testers *may* have such
a thread. Mine just has a tapered rubber plug.
A leakdown tester should have 2 guages and WILL have a connector for
compressed air.

Mine has one gauge. It's around 45 years old. And as I noted in an
addition to the post above, it has a Schrader valve for pumping up the
cylinder.

What's the second gauge for? With mine, you just attach it, make sure
both valves are closed, and pump it up. Test dry, then test wet (with
about an ounce of oil in the cylinder; more for a V-engine).

Is there something else that I've missed?

--
Ed Huntress

One gauge tells you your air input pressure, the other your cylinder
pressure.

It's about doing a comparison. You're always going to have a
percentage of leak and you want about the same percentage of leak for
every cylinder.

Watch this. It's a well done video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNf0IOIvIcY

That's interesting, and I'm sure it's faster to use than the old ones.
From what he demonstrated, though, I see no way to identify ring
versus valve problems. I guess you could run the test wet as well with
that rig, but it's a different animal.

You could pump mine up with a bicycle pump, if you had to, but I
always had a little compressor handy.

--
Ed Huntress

Consider that you are going to have to take the engine apart if you
have "dead holes" anyway so the need for exact specifics doesn't
really matter that much. All you're really looking to see is if you
have "dead holes" and generally what the problem might be.

I'm sure it's a practical solution or they wouldn't go to that
complication. And in a commercial shop, time is money, and the old way
of running those tests could take a whole Saturday morning. If it was
a Bristol or a Jag engine, it was worth the play time. Otherwise, not.

God save me from ever having to do a hot valve-lash job on a
six-cylinder Triumph again...

--
Ed Huntress

Many commercial auto repair shops don't even know what a leak
down
test is and all they know and do are compression tests.

Well, if you want, you should go to the dealers and large-chain stores
because of the better go-between that the auto mechanics have with the
factory, rather than going to the mom and pops (cheaper though).