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Subject:Re: Is this the cause of my engine compression problem?
From:David Kao
Date:Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:20:34 -0700

Thanks a lot for a couple of responses sent to my mailbox so far.
These responses suspect that I have valves maybe too tight. This
a real possibility. But before I drove the westy to the mountains
I had adjusted the valves a couple of times. I set the adjusting
screw to 1.5 turns, istead of 2 turns on the Bentley manual.

Well, should not try to jump into any conclusion too soon. I will
try to re-adjust the valve again and try 1 turn instead.

Just now I recall something during my weenend trip to the mountains.
I remember the temp gauge had a trend to move over 1/2 slightly.
It wasn't that much to cause real concern but I noticed it and I
used to see it slightly below 1/2 most of the time, even climbing
hills as long as the hills are not forever.

I also noticed something. I believe my coolant level in the reservoir
tank was in the middle between Min and Max Sunday morning. Now it is
near the Max. This should not have happened. I suspect there is a
leak of combustion gas through the head gaskets into the cooling system.
Maybe this is cauing my temp gauge showing slightly higher readings.

Now does it make more sense that my exhaust header is preventing
my cylinder heads from sealing the combustion chamber on #1 and #3?
The exhaust header was 2-3 mm off before it was put on the engine.
It was quite a struggle for me to put it on. I really suspect that
this is really the cause of the compression issue.

I can be wrong. So has anyone seen this kind of probelm?

David

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