weekend maintenance
Hello again friends! Back again with another post. Decided to change the spark plugs on my Vic since it was time to change them. so far they all look like they have been burning clean without any issues thankfully. That is until I checked the compression numbers. Some have greater numbers than others and well within spec, sadly there are 2 that have low numbers but within acceptable range per ford’s manual.
For the compression check, you need to keep the throttle blade wide open while cranking the engine over for 5 compression strokes. there is a fuel safety cutoff switch in the trunk from factory that you can flip to cut power off to the fuel pump while doing the test. Driver side coil packs were easy to remove but the passenger side did take a little convincing to remove because of the fuel rail being in the way on cylinder 1 and cylinder 4 was a bit of a tight fit since it’s near the heater core. first the plugs then the compression numbers.
For a car that was built in 2003 and served in law enforcement for 175,000 miles, 1 previous owner that drove it for 15,000 miles (190,000). I’ve added around 40,000 miles (230,000) since I’ve owned this car. I’m surprised how well this car handles itself with these numbers. Most likely it has some carbon build up on the intake valves that need to be cleaned out with fuel treatment cleaner. I got a bottle of O’Riely’s high millage fuel treatment in the gas tank that will clean the valves overtime and hopefully improve the compression numbers for the driver side valves. Added in 6 quarts of Penzoil high millage 10w30 and the vic loves the thicker oil.
bobkasho