Peugeot 106 GTI Low Compression Causes

Peugeot 106 GTI Low Compression Causes

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Discussion

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
quotequote all
For the past 3 weeks or so my 106 GTi has been making a knocking noise on idle which could be heard most from underneath the car from around the sump area and a very slight rattle at low rpm, it did drive fine though and didn't feel to be lacking in power.

A couple of days ago I was going along and within the space of a few hundred yards my engine started to sound horrible and I felt a severe loss in power at this time so I pulled over, My water temp wasn't hot (below half way) so I didn't think it was the head gasket.

I drove the car home as it did run but was misfiring really badly (it had such little power I couldn't use 4th gear even on flat)

I was hoping it was just a faulty coil pack or spark plugs but I changed both of them and it made no difference.

The other night I did a compression test and the readings that I got were: 55, 55, 210, and 210 (from left to right)

So what I’m now wondering is...

What has caused this? Could it be head gasket failure even though I drove my car 8 miles home without it over-heating?

Could the knocking I was experiencing prior to this be linked to what’s happened now?

Basically what do you thinks happened if you were to have guess?

I would have posted this in the French Bred section but you get very little replys.

Thanks in advance.

PHuzzy

2,747 posts

173 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
quotequote all
The 16v engine works on a wasted spark ignition system, it fires two cylinders at a time but still sparks the other two. Which would lead me to believe an ignition problem of sorts.
You could also assume with such a low compression on two cylinders it could well be a valve problem?
I take it your engine management light is on? Best bet is run it through diagnostic check to find your answer, although it could be less than helpful and say misfire on cylinder 1&2!

A list of things that I'm only guessing on could be:
Crank bearing(s)
Electrical Fault
Dodgy plugs
Bent valve(s)
HGF

I'll leave the floor open to some other PHers to pull apart or confirm my guesses.

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
quotequote all
PHuzzy said:
The 16v engine works on a wasted spark ignition system, it fires two cylinders at a time but still sparks the other two. Which would lead me to believe an ignition problem of sorts.
You could also assume with such a low compression on two cylinders it could well be a valve problem?
I take it your engine management light is on? Best bet is run it through diagnostic check to find your answer, although it could be less than helpful and say misfire on cylinder 1&2!

A list of things that I'm only guessing on could be:
Crank bearing(s)
Electrical Fault
Dodgy plugs
Bent valve(s)
HGF

I'll leave the floor open to some other PHers to pull apart or confirm my guesses.


Surprisingly I have no warning lights on my dash which I can't understand. I changed my spark plugs and borrowed a friends coil pack which made no difference at all.

Could an electrical fault cause low compression? I though I'd pretty much ruled out it being anything electrical.

hoppo4.2

1,531 posts

187 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
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common fault for HG to fail between cylinders. sounds strange to. have a comp/ cyl leakage test to confirm.

RobCrezz

7,892 posts

209 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
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The knocking sounds like its your big ends that have gone.

Has it been run low on oil, or been on the track? If not then your oil pump could be faulty which could have caused this.

DannyVTS

7,543 posts

169 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
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I was going to say the crank pulley has detiorated which would cause the odd noise at low rpm\idle but that wouldn't explain the cylinder pressure would it?

davepoth

29,395 posts

200 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
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head gasket failure, causing oil to mix with water, causing lack of lubrication at the bottom end of the engine, causing big end failure.

daviewonder

40 posts

179 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
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Have you been through any deep puddles lately?

shalmaneser

5,936 posts

196 months

Thursday 20th January 2011
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Low compression is either going to be...

Valves not seated right
Head gasket
knackered rings.

Given that two cylinders next to each other have gone, HG seems the likely culprit.

Either way you'll have to pull the head to find out. Get the spanners out.

However, this still leaves you with a potentially fked bottom end, might be easier just to drop a new block in.

JimGTxx

270 posts

204 months

Thursday 20th January 2011
quotequote all
shalmaneser said:
Low compression is either going to be...

Valves not seated right
Head gasket
knackered rings.

Given that two cylinders next to each other have gone, HG seems the likely culprit.

Either way you'll have to pull the head to find out. Get the spanners out.

However, this still leaves you with a potentially fked bottom end, might be easier just to drop a new block in.
Unfortunately, what he said.

Drain the coolant out, drain the oil out, pull the head off and inspect, drop the sump off and inspect.
replace and rebuild as necessary.
Do you know what to look for on the cyl head and gasket? Do you know how to check the main and big end bearing, crank journals etc?

oakdale

1,810 posts

203 months

Thursday 20th January 2011
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hoppo4.2 said:
common fault for HG to fail between cylinders. sounds strange to. have a comp/ cyl leakage test to confirm.
Most likely to be this.

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Friday 21st January 2011
quotequote all
JimGTxx said:
shalmaneser said:
Low compression is either going to be...

Valves not seated right
Head gasket
knackered rings.

Given that two cylinders next to each other have gone, HG seems the likely culprit.

Either way you'll have to pull the head to find out. Get the spanners out.

However, this still leaves you with a potentially fked bottom end, might be easier just to drop a new block in.
Unfortunately, what he said.

Drain the coolant out, drain the oil out, pull the head off and inspect, drop the sump off and inspect.
replace and rebuild as necessary.
Do you know what to look for on the cyl head and gasket? Do you know how to check the main and big end bearing, crank journals etc?
No, what do i look out for? I got told to look out for glitter in the oil as this would indicate shaved bearings. Is this correct?

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Friday 21st January 2011
quotequote all
Locke said:
JimGTxx said:
shalmaneser said:
Low compression is either going to be...

Valves not seated right
Head gasket
knackered rings.

Given that two cylinders next to each other have gone, HG seems the likely culprit.

Either way you'll have to pull the head to find out. Get the spanners out.

However, this still leaves you with a potentially fked bottom end, might be easier just to drop a new block in.
Unfortunately, what he said.

Drain the coolant out, drain the oil out, pull the head off and inspect, drop the sump off and inspect.
replace and rebuild as necessary.
Do you know what to look for on the cyl head and gasket? Do you know how to check the main and big end bearing, crank journals etc?
No, what do i look out for? I got told to look out for glitter in the oil as this would indicate shaved bearings. Is this correct?
How do I spot a fked bottom end?

shalmaneser

5,936 posts

196 months

Friday 21st January 2011
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Can you spot the worn one?!

swarf in the oil is an obvious sign, but might not be present. Best to take off the bearing caps and have a look.

It's a big big job and you really would be better off dropping another engine in if they are worn, you may need to have the crank reground as well.

oakdale

1,810 posts

203 months

Friday 21st January 2011
quotequote all
Why are you worrying about the crank bearings?

You've got low compressions on two adjacent cylinders most likely caused by a head gasket failure, (this can cause some horrible combustion knock noises).

Whatever the cause, the head needs to come off but I haven't read anything here that suggests crankshaft or bearing failure.


Kitchski

6,516 posts

232 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
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Crank bearing failure won't have any affect on compression, I'm pretty sure of that. You'd have had to wreck a piston, rod or bore in some way.

My only suggestion is that the knock wasn't coming from the bottom of the engine (even if it sounded like it) and that either your cambelt has jumped a tooth or two and slightly bent some valves, or the head gasket has failed big time (though if it had, you'd see other symptoms in a TU like pressurising of the cooling system, overheating etc.)

Just a thought....if the timing has jumped and it's idling like a bh, a worn clutch release bearing could be pretty vocal. When the big ends go on TU's, they tend to stay quiet at idle and only make themselves known at 2.5k rpm, usually by knocking their tits off.

Where abouts are you?

Kitchski

6,516 posts

232 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
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Just checked your profile.....long way from me! Go to a local decent garage that have a leak-down tester first. See if you can highlight exactly where your wasted compression is going!

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
quotequote all
Kitchski said:
Just checked your profile.....long way from me! Go to a local decent garage that have a leak-down tester first. See if you can highlight exactly where your wasted compression is going!
Ok thanks, I didn't think the knocking I was experiencing prior to my HGF was linked but just wanted an idea of what the knocking might be as it would be a waste to spend money on a new head gasket if I have a fked bottom end.

My engine would only knocked when warm whilst on idle it never did it on start up and the knocking didn't get faster when reved. Its a really tricky one.

I could somtimes here a very slight noise when driving along at a low rpm that sounded similar to a heat sheld vibrating but it wasn't because I checked and double checked and found nothing to be lose. It seemed to do this more when going up hills aswell. It was making this noise slighly louder than usual right before my HG failure also. confused

Edited by Locke on Saturday 22 January 01:46

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
quotequote all
oakdale said:
Why are you worrying about the crank bearings?

You've got low compressions on two adjacent cylinders most likely caused by a head gasket failure, (this can cause some horrible combustion knock noises).

Whatever the cause, the head needs to come off but I haven't read anything here that suggests crankshaft or bearing failure.
Is it possible then that just simply doing the head gasket may cure some of the knocking I was experiencing prior to it going. Could the knocking I was getting before be linked to the head gasket being on it way out?

Locke

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

185 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
quotequote all
oakdale said:
Why are you worrying about the crank bearings?

You've got low compressions on two adjacent cylinders most likely caused by a head gasket failure, (this can cause some horrible combustion knock noises).

Whatever the cause, the head needs to come off but I haven't read anything here that suggests crankshaft or bearing failure.
Could the knocking I was experiencing the few weeks before be linked to the head gasket being on its way out then? As I was getting the knocking before I lost compression. Could it be possible that by doing the head gasket I may get rid of the knocking? Or is there a good chance it will still knock?

(I understand its hard to say as you've not heard it yourself, but thanks all the same ) smile



Edited by Locke on Saturday 22 January 02:09