Cylinder 3 is reading dead on my compression gauge. My timing belt snapped the other day and the car died. And like a dummy I kept cranking on it. I now know that it is an interference engine, and that this most likely resulted in valve damage.
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But on the off chance, could I be getting a dead cylinder from the engine being out of time? Please help I've spent two days and more money than I wanted, and still have a busted ride.
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How are you checking compression with no belt

 

Sorry. I forgot to specify. I replaced the timing belt and balancing shafts belt. All my timing marks were lined up correctly.

 

If your other cylinders have decent compression, then you likely did some valve damage on #3. You also said the belt was installed with the marks lined up, so if you were off a few teeth with improper installation, you would still get some compression on #3.

 

At this point your next best option is to pull the head, have it reconditioned, and reinstall.

 

+1. I agree

 

Yes. If your valves were not damaged, then being slightly off-time would affect all cylinders equally.

 

sounds like bent valve (s) to me ,

 

That's what I was afraid of. Just wanted a few opinions before I went through the work.

 

Depending on the mileage of your engine, you may want to consider replacing the engine.

I remember having the option to buy a low mileage engine for my 95 MT accord for ~$250 with 40K miles. It will probably be less expensive vs rebuilding the head.

It just depends if you want or have a cherry picker (or other lifting equipment to replace the engine. car-part.com was the site where I found that engine, but sold the car before pulling the trigger to replace my 300K mile engine. If you go this route, try to verify the donor vehicle was hit from behind and that it was hit, because it means the engine was likely running. If there is no visible damage, then you aren't even sure the engine was running or it was flooded, etc. Also ask if the junkyard will do a compression test in front of your or even better a leak-down test on each cylinder.