compression test values and opinions
 

My 87 has 154k. It was due an oil change and near time for a valve adjust so I figured why not also do a compression and maybe even a leakdown. The car still runs great and uses about 1 qt for every 1000 miles.(20w50 VR1)

The compression values,hot engine, came out at 187,183,185,185,183,187. Based on all Ive read these are pretty healthy values. By time I finally got done with it engine had gotten cooled down quite a bit and it was time for bed. With these values, is it really worth to heat it back up again and continue on to the leak down?

as it will be completely cool by time I get back to it, I plan to do the valves first.

Thanks for any input.

Compression numbers look great. You could do a cold leak down test just to get an idea if you like. Oil use is still in range. How do the spark plugs look? Are there any heavy deposits from oil burning? If not I would just keep driving. The only real problem I know of with 3.2's is valve guide wear, and a leak down or compression test won't show that.

That would be good enough for me. Check again in about 50,000 miles and enjoy until then.

Keep driving it. Just getting broken in

Thanks for the feedback guys. Overall I knew it was in great shape, it was just one of those things I wanted to do due to the mileage, and that piece of mind thing. You hear and read so much about these engines at the 160k mark.

The spark plugs look text book great, with not a deposit of anything on any one. The only deposits I saw were on the back side of all the valves (mild carbon buildup) when I resealed the cam towers two years back. At that time about 145k and the depostis were what I would expect to see for any motor with that many miles. As for the 3.2 and the valve guide wear. The only way I've read to see if that is an issue is to do a strong acceleration and watch the tailpipe during decel to look for any tell tale decel smoking. From what I've seen there is nothing obvious at all during decel on my engine.

dont use the VR1 if you have a cat. the high phos and zinc will eat it up. (from valvoline)

JMHO, but cams and rockers are far more expensive than a possible cat replacement,.....:)

Keep using that VR1 and change it often.