Compression test - beware!
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:47 am
Afternoon all,
About three years ago I was working on a friends 'special' that had low compression and some electrical issues. For those with a good memory the chassis was a Metisse Mk5 and the electrical problem turned out to be someone had extended the wiring from the ignition stator plate. I was using my compression tester a few days ago and got 130psi on all 4 cylinders of ZXR750, I thought this a bit odd so tested my FTR223 and also got 130psi. Thinking this a bit suspicious I borrowed a friend's tester and got much stronger readings.
My compression tester is a Draper model with a 14mm threaded brass fitting on the end of a flexible hose, identical testers are sold but with different brand names. I use the Draper 60mm adaptor, part number 02150, to give me the thread sizes for bike engines, and here lies the problem. The flexible hose has a non-return valve in the 14mm brass fitting, as the engine turns over the pressure builds up in the hose until it peaks at the same pressure as the cylinder. The adaptor doesn't have a non-return valve so it effectively adds to the combustion chamber volume resulting in lower compression.
My friend's tester uses a much shorter adaptor so the resulting increase in combustion chamber volume is much less. Looking at the 60mm adaptor I reckon it adds 2 - 3cc to the combustion chamber volume.
When you think about how much of the spark plug hole the spark plug occupies adding anything 'above' the spark plug hole adds to the combustion chamber volume and will lower the actual compression. The non-return valve needs to be as close to the head as possible. My friend's tester includes an adaptor tube with a rubber cone end that allows you to press against the plug hole, easy to use but the non-return valve in this case is in the gauge so the volume in the tube adds to the combustion chamber volume. Based on my tests using this arrangement lowers the compression reading by about 12psi.
Using the my friend's short adaptor the ZXR750 the readings were between 170 and 175psi for the 4 cylinders and this was verified with a completely different gauge. According to the Haynes manual the specification for a ZXR750K1 is 145 - 220psi.
Of course I could be talking rubbish........
Here's the adaptor
and here's the Metisse.
Regards,
Chris.
About three years ago I was working on a friends 'special' that had low compression and some electrical issues. For those with a good memory the chassis was a Metisse Mk5 and the electrical problem turned out to be someone had extended the wiring from the ignition stator plate. I was using my compression tester a few days ago and got 130psi on all 4 cylinders of ZXR750, I thought this a bit odd so tested my FTR223 and also got 130psi. Thinking this a bit suspicious I borrowed a friend's tester and got much stronger readings.
My compression tester is a Draper model with a 14mm threaded brass fitting on the end of a flexible hose, identical testers are sold but with different brand names. I use the Draper 60mm adaptor, part number 02150, to give me the thread sizes for bike engines, and here lies the problem. The flexible hose has a non-return valve in the 14mm brass fitting, as the engine turns over the pressure builds up in the hose until it peaks at the same pressure as the cylinder. The adaptor doesn't have a non-return valve so it effectively adds to the combustion chamber volume resulting in lower compression.
My friend's tester uses a much shorter adaptor so the resulting increase in combustion chamber volume is much less. Looking at the 60mm adaptor I reckon it adds 2 - 3cc to the combustion chamber volume.
When you think about how much of the spark plug hole the spark plug occupies adding anything 'above' the spark plug hole adds to the combustion chamber volume and will lower the actual compression. The non-return valve needs to be as close to the head as possible. My friend's tester includes an adaptor tube with a rubber cone end that allows you to press against the plug hole, easy to use but the non-return valve in this case is in the gauge so the volume in the tube adds to the combustion chamber volume. Based on my tests using this arrangement lowers the compression reading by about 12psi.
Using the my friend's short adaptor the ZXR750 the readings were between 170 and 175psi for the 4 cylinders and this was verified with a completely different gauge. According to the Haynes manual the specification for a ZXR750K1 is 145 - 220psi.
Of course I could be talking rubbish........
Here's the adaptor
and here's the Metisse.
Regards,
Chris.