Hi not much of an engine guy except the obvious bolt on's alt., starter, etc...
any how I got an 88 raider 5 spd. the truck runs extremely rough I'm sure its running on two cylinders ( I dont drive it like that?) I checked the rear cylinders and got normal compression the front 2 near the radiator have 0 compression. Is it the head gasket? or a rod or link may have busted, I can get the truck to start with a strong battery and pouring a little gas down the carb but sounds sluggish and drags when turning any help would be great.

Sorry on the problems

I'm sure the head gasket between cylinders 1 and 2 is blown.. The compression on 1 and 2 are just going back and forth between the two cylinders ...

Or.........?????????.. You just dont really know untell you pull the head off the motor ...Sorry to say

If theres no knock or nasty sounds for the motor ..Then the rods and pistons "should" be fine .....

But ........?.. Once more you need to pull the head and look ..

Think about it ... Its hard to start do to its now a two cylinder motor not a four .. Motors really have a hard time running with a "died hole" or two ..

Your just about to become a start alt and headgasket pro ..A 2.6 is really one of the easyer motor to do the head gasket on if that helps any ..

Sorry on the troubles ..

David

Hazardous Toys inc

The motor will have to come apart. Before you tear into it it's good to have a plan and enough cash to make sure you can put it back together.

Most likely it's a bad head gasket but you may find that the head is bad as well.

Worst case it you also have damage to the bottom end. If your comfortable getting in over your head a little, there is plenty of help to guide you through the repair.

Kevin

sems like the hg would have to be very blown to get a zero on a comp test. Sounds moe like a bent valve, or possibly a ringland. Have you checked to see if someone installed mechanical rockers? It's possible that the previous owner overtightened them if they have been installed.

Hi dont know of any previous work, I'm willing to replace the head if it's not too expensive I would do the work myself with some help from my father inlaw and 4x4 wire of course. As far as the bottom end I do have an extra 2.6 on a stand which also had the head blow on it. I just dont know if I want to dump that kind of cash. Thanks for the response's I know I just got to get in there.

Pour a cap full of oil in to the cylinder and do a compression test if comp. goes up its rings if it stays the same then look for burnt valves or do a poor mans leak down test. Hook up a air noozle to the air hose put it into each cylinder and see were the air comes out, radiator= head gasket,exhaust=exhaust valve, intake=intake valve,oil cap = rings. WARNING-WHEN FORCING COMPRESSED AIR INTO THE CYLINDER YOUR MONTERO COULD START. Just pull the fuel pump relay.

Oil in the cyl is good if you have low compression and want to find out why.

To get zero compression and have it be the piston / rings , you would have to have a hole in the piston. Two pistons with holes, side by side seems unlikely. Pistons with holes dont change from putting oil in the chamber.

Pressurizing the cylinder will tell a lot.....

A couple of bad jet valves could do the same. It's the side by side failure that usually says head gasket.

The upside is jet valves can be changed without pulling the head, worth checking. Anything other than that , and the head has to come off.

Kevin

Yes. As for the question about will a head gasket leak yield zero compression, yes it will. 1 and 2 are going in opposite directions, and one is sucking up what the other leaks, at the same rate, limited only by the size of the blowout in the gasket. I've seen zero several times while I learned to replace a 2.6 headgasket right. I got lots of practice, and by delaying the fix, often eroded the leak into a bigun. Piston speed is low, too...

I did not want to go againist the grain on this and alot of stuff on this forum ..So I did not bring this up ...Fastaddys right and I have sean alot of bad head gaskets with 0 compression ... My new V6 Raider had 0 on two cyl with a bad spot on the gasket the whole gasket was gone between the two ...It must of run blown for some time ...It so bad it "fluttered the head" to the point it can not be cut or fixed ...

You can talk this out all day ... But you do not really know what the problem is untill you pull it down...

David

Hazardous Toys inc

(Fluttered head gasket ... The metal ring on the gasket at the cylinder hammers up and down as the motor moves up and down and pounds a grove into the aluminum head that is a imprint of the gasket...)