ESDE
Member
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2017
- Messages
- 19
- Location
- east coast
- Occupation
- self employed due to low boredom threshold
My Volvo excavator has a sick Mitsubishi S3L2 3 cylinder diesel. Excessive crankcase pressure (oil spray out of the dipstick tube), starts hard, feels like its not running on all cylinders when cold. I've picked up a nice old MAC compression gauge but have a few questions. I pulled the glow plugs and cranked it over, taking the highest reading of each cylinder. Numbers were 450#, 400#, 550#
Reading through the manual, which is NOT very clear, it states that I should just crank it over till I get a reading. If I do that, not allowing each cylinder to pump up, my numbers are more like 250, 200, 300.
So, whats the "correct" way to measure compression? I mean, it seems like this poor thing has earned its retirement, but I feel like I should know how to properly use this gauge for the future.
Reading through the manual, which is NOT very clear, it states that I should just crank it over till I get a reading. If I do that, not allowing each cylinder to pump up, my numbers are more like 250, 200, 300.
So, whats the "correct" way to measure compression? I mean, it seems like this poor thing has earned its retirement, but I feel like I should know how to properly use this gauge for the future.