I have suspected engine failure since I first drove the car. My first comments where that it felt like it was running on 5 cylinders. Well, tonight I decided to do a compression check on cylinder #5 since the CEL is for a misfire in cylinder #5 ... good place to start. I remove the plug and low and behold, I find this:







Plug is oil fouled and the threads are SOAKING in oil. Gap is unchanged at .035"

Damn cheap ass SUMMIT compression tester's threaded end is too short to fit in the cylinder for testing to confirm, but I have no doubt in my mind based on the condition of the plug that the cylinder is completely shot!!! I'm going to return the guage and get a leak down tester instead with multiple thread attachments.

I'm soo pissed right now!

The way I see it, I have 3 choices:

1) Sue the [censored] who sold me this piece of [censored]!
2) Keep it and rebuild the block and sell it
3) Keep it and drop in a 3L Hybrid and sell it for more

Last edited by fastcougar; 11/30/05 08:41 AM.
For Sale: 1997 Explorer XLT V8 AWD