Re: "Engine Restore" in lurching Camaro?

"Why do I work on my own car? Because there are two kinds of mechanics

> in the world; those mechanics who fell in love with cars at five years > old, and those that don't have the education do to anything else.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I have to take exception to that statement. A mechanic needs a LOT of education to do his job properly. Thirty years ago your statement had a lot of truth to it. Not any more. It's true there are a few "bad" mechanics in this world. But there are a few "bad" doctors, lawyers and engineers also. If doing a proper diagnosis on a car was that easy, this newsgroup would not exist.

Reply to
Kruse
Loading thread data ...

If I were you I would go spend a little cash and get myself a compression tester. Take a look at your plugs, they will likely tell the story. You want to find out which cylinders (possibly all of them) have low compression, then find out why. you didn't say how many miles on the beast, but it could just be time for a ring job.

I haven't used "Engine Restore", nor would I unless an emergency. It is likely just a molassis-thick substance that ups compression. Do yourself a favor and get the compression tester, check compression in all cyls, then spray some motor oil in the cyls and do it again. If the compression goes up substantially, you probably need new rings, etc. If it doesn't, could be a cracked block or head gasket or something worse. Bottom line is you should figure out what the problem is rather than use a temporary-at-best solution.

The fact that your car ran fine for a few days on new plugs supports the shop's theory: if you are running rich, you are likely fouling hte plugs after a few days to where the combustion will not ignite every time like it should.

Scott

Reply to
Scott Fuhrman

They didn't give you the numbers on the compression test? I'd go back and ask for them.. then give them to us so we can give you a better diagnosis..

-Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Chang

Very interesting. They did say something about the rings, but didn't since they don't do engine work rebuilding/repairs they didn't give me a definite "rings will fix it or not". I do believe they said that cylinders 5 and 6 were the ones that were having problems, and the others ones were ok. This car has 83,000 factory miles on it, and was drove easy [ie: no flooring it, racing, etc...just used for transportation] for all 18 years its been around. The car has been in the family and was bought new in '85. To the other gentleman, I will try and get a hold of the compression numbers Monday.

Regarding the spraying of cylenders with oil and checking for compression, How exactly do I spray them? Does the engine need to come out of the car? I am assuming I would just pour some standard

10-30 oil inside where the spark plugs are sitted. then resit the plugs, and run the compression test again. Not that I am cheap or anything, as I plan to go ahead and buy a compression tester, but what if I just spray the cylinders with oil and just drive around and see if it "lurches?"

Also, in regards to the quote about the good mechanic/bad mechanic, that was from someone who hasn't gone to a mechanic shop in about 20 years, as they do it themselves. They told me they had bad experiences with mechanics, and thats when they started doing it themselves about 15-20 years ago. I personally have a lot of respect for mechanics as they seem to know almost always what is going on. I was just kinda "urked" (i dont even think that is a word) when i drop $200 odd some dollars for spark plugs. I know it needed to be done, but still, its aggravating.

Reply to
Dan

|Well anyways, I saw this product called "Engine Restore" which |supposively restores compression to "original compression numbers." |Has any of you had any experience with this product [mainly any bad |experiences]?

I've used Restore on a number of occasions, different cars. It definitely seems to do what it purports to do. You can almost always feel the difference in a "seat of the pants" test. I used to use it when I had to tow a heavy trailer with my aging Astro. T the bad news is it goes away when you change the oil, making it too expnsive to keekp adding with each oil change.

But try it, you might be surprised.

Reply to
Rex B

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.