As I stated when you first posted the problem, the engine was knocking
and pinging itself to death. Even if the water temp was normal, for some
reason the actual combustion temps and pressures were not. You most
likely started burning the pistons and breaking rings. You may even have
a burned valve. Since you know the engine is now affected, you are
looking at least a rebuild of the top end. Excessive knocking is also
hard on the rod bearings.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of James V
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 4:23 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Low Compression after Spark Plug Incident

Recently, I posted regarding a problem where my van suddenly lost power
and
I found that one of my spark plugs (#2) had broken (topic: "Broken Spark
Plug Electrode/Tip").  After receiving some kind advice from the list, I
simply replaced the plug and hoped for the best.  But after replacing,
the
van was still running poorly, with low power particularly on
acceleration,
as if that cylinder was not running right (it was firing).

After some obligatory useless fiddling, I ended up taking it to the
shop,
which found that compression on the #4 cylinder was very low, while it
was
good on the others, including the #2 which had the fried plug.  The van
was
running fine before the spark plug incident.  So, strangely to me, it
seems
that the spark plug incident on the #2 cylinder caused the problem I'm
now
having w/ the #4.

Is this possible?  Any ideas?

Thanks,

James V
90 Carat