Well, I did an experiment last night:
I took one of the heads (the one with the suspected blown head gasket) and turned it over on its side the the exahust ports on top. I sprayed brake cleaner in the ports to fill them up with fluid. Every exhaust valve seeped fluid out of it, eventually completely emptying the fluid. (Not real fast)
I turned the head over and did the same thing to the intake ports, same result except for number 1 I believe intake valve. It did not leak anything.
Are my valves leaking? If this was fixed, would my compression go up to normal?
It is an extra 60 bucks to have a valve job. If you dont think this engine should have much money put into it, what if I lapped the valves by hand? Would this be advantagous? I could lap them, then do the test again to see if they are leaking then I guess if they leak have a valve job.
If the engine is not going to last i dotn want to spend too much. I have one of those suction cup lappers. I rebuilt an old techumseh engine and bought compound for that. I am not sure if it is adviseable on an automotive engine or not.
Have you ever worked on these 3.9 dodge engines? Are they good engines?
By the way, I bought a Hayes manual last night and it said you could reuse the bolts for the v6, just not the 4 cylinder.
Here were my compression numbers before tearing it down:
6 = 90psi 3 = 190 psi (120 checked later) 5 = 105 psi 2 = 90 psi 4 = 95 psi 1 = 95 psi