what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

I'm trying to help out my mother from 1000 miles away. She has an '89 Civic DX (100% stock) that was running poorly for a while, then gave up altogether. (Won't start.) Her mechanic told her the motor is blown and would have to be replaced. From previous experience ('83 Civic, I think it had a blown head gasket because it was overheating and loosing power, brother overheated badly once, water in the oil, same mechanic said the same thing without even looking at it. I didn't know much at the time, but I still think that motor could have been fixed) I don't really trust his judgement. I told her to have a compression test run. My brother claims the compression was checked already (although I have doubts this was done) and there was zero compression in all 4 cylinders. What would be the most likely cause of this?

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

no pistons.

hehe jk, seriously i would test it yourself before you trust the word of someone else.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

I don't even think that is possible. ??? Even if the timing belt was broke it would get compression in at least one cylinder. If the head gasket was completely missing it would still build a little compression. If the motor has pistons in it, there should be some compression.

I think somebody is full of ----. ;)
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Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

I would like to, but I was serious about being 1000 miles away. If those compression results are true, I guess it doesn't matter anyway. I would think it would be something fairly catistrophic (sp?) to do that. Maybe I can still talk someone into verifying it.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

Yes, I thought that sounded wrong too. I guess if all 4 cylinder walls split open... but I would think it would stop running before that happened.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

she would have to have melted all the pistons down so there were none. No turbo right? :D No I think that the mecanic is trying to make some money like what they told my sister man. When women come through that door they can change their blinker fluid for $50 and they didn't even know they had blinker fluid.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

it`d be zero if.
1)bent valve on each cylinder.
2)sleevs cracked on all cylinder
3)He`s full of ----.

me personally will go with #1 or 3 :P

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

Either that or they're tryin to test it with the head off ::)

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

valve lash way too tight.

is the engine loping at idle?
if not will it not start?
and if it starts did you check comp with motor hot?

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

my cylinder had 10 pounds of compression with a cracked sleeve...

https://www.homemadeturbo.com/jbliss/integra_blown1.jpg

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

if the motor seized there would be no compression!
we'll i'm sure that's not the case.
wait... i see the problem. your mom is running the apc carbon style valve cover breather. hehe ;D

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

If its real flooded youll be close to 0 psi ;)

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

Just call the mechanic and make him clarify his claim to you and asked him what else he's checked, sounds like another crappy mechanic taking advantage of a mom with a civic. some people don't realize that charging a ton to fix an old car is dumb, since she could just buy a different one, that he hasn't worked on for the same price--- or less

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

where does ur mom live,MAYBE if she is close to an HMT
member they could help out always willing to help out
a mother

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

if the timing is of, thats an EASY way to get no compression you clowns.... and that could have been why it was running shitty, timing jumped a tooth or so and then finaly jumped a couple more.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

Even if that was the case, there would always be at least a little compression in at least one cylinder. Go try it.....you ------- clown. :P
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Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

the timing has to be hella off to get no compression at all in all 4 cylinders

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

that's why i think either the valve lash on all the cylinders are too tight or that mechanic loosened up the head bolts.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

She lives in Missouri, in the Lake of the Ozarks area. (Macks Creek.)
It's entirely possible the mechanic said 'bad compression', and it got changed to 'no compression' by the time I heard it.

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

you still havent found out or had the problem fixed?

Re:what would cause zero compression in all cylinders?
 

No, haven't really been able to do anything. She's got a lot going on, (back surgery, broke, etc) and hasn't been able to do anything. I'm in VA and can't do anything directly... She borrows my brother's car when she has to, it's far from ideal, but she get by for now. If I had time, I'd rent a truck and dolly and haul it out here. It might take a while but I'm sure I could fix it one way or the other. She wants me to send my D16A6 long block, but after shipping, replacing the belts, etc, it probably wouldn't cost much more to get a junkyard motor locally. Plus I don't trust anyone there to do it right, being a different block than stock. Plus I didn't see the later replies until yesterday. I'm going to try to get my brother or someone to check the timing as suggested.