I have a shop manual for your generation accord I downloaded from the web. The range should be 140 to 180 psi, so I think something is up with how you are doing the compression test. Does your adapter to the spark plug tube have an o-ring? How are you tightening the tester into the engine block when you are testing?

More importantly, what are you trying to fix? and why are you doing a compression test?

 

Hi PAHonda, thank you for the very quick reply!

I am trying to fix the excessive 'blow by' condition present in this car. There was some significant smoke coming from the breather hose (at the top of the valve cover). It was bad, and soaked the air cleaner. The previous owner had then made a poor fix by redirecting the breather hose to a location at the bottom of the car, so as to not soak the air filter. But the smoke still exits and will cause quite a mess in the air around the car at high idle. Plus of course the horsepower suffers pretty badly. Also the oil will be used up slowly as it is carried away by the smoke.

I want to mitigate this as much as possible to make the car usable as a daily driver.

As for the testing itself, I expect the compression to be under spec due to these conditions - it is a problem that I need to fix. I am trying to determine now if the problem would be better fixed by replacing/rebuilding the cylinder head (valves), or if it is a problem with the piston rings (which I am not sure I have the capability to take on myself). The compression tester I am using is from AutoZone. It has a gasket around the part which screws into the spark plug hole, and another gasket around the part which screws from the rubber tube into the aforementioned spark-plug-hole piece. I attach the former by using a standard ratchet/extension, the latter tube has no tool indication/shape, so I just hand tighten it into the former piece as tightly as possible. I used the same approximate torques for each cylinder/test.

Please let me know if this answers your query, I appreciate the feedback!

 

Right now, all the cylinder were below the minimum spec, except for the 165 psi reading. I'm wondering if you are doing the testing properly.

Watch this video on how to do the test to be sure you are doing the testing properly.

 

Hey PAHonda. Due to the aforementioned symptoms I EXPECT that the compression is out of spec, I am only doing the test to try to find out if the broken part of the engine is the rings or the valves. Yes, the engine has problems, just trying to take the first steps to know what I have to prepare for if I want to fix it.

I watched the video. This is how I performed the test except that I waited for 10 crank overs instead of 5. I think this should still be a good reading.

Thank you again

 

Just want to make sure the compression numbers are real numbers.

To determine if the low compression is due to rings, valves, or head gasket; you'll have to do a leak down test.

You might want to pull the valve cover and get the crankshaft lined up to top dead center. Then check if the cam sprocket is properly lined up.

 

Hi PAHonda,

Thanks I appreciate the thoroughness. When I went to the auto parts store where I got the compression tester (AutoZone) it looks like they do not have any leak down tester. A few other parts stores nearby also seem to have this deficiency. I do not own any kind of compressor currently, either. Do you know what pieces I would need to buy in order to perform this test? I am thinking either way though, I am going to end up pulling the engine apart...

Thank you