Posted by Charlie Petit on January 04, 1999 at 15:24:20:
In Reply to: Re: Bimmer in Hybernation part IV - The unthinkable posted by Peter Florance on January 04, 1999 at 06:33:56:
: Broken timing belt.....?
: Peter
OK Here goes:
The only way for you to have Zero compression is for either the valves to not be closing or for all the compression to be leaking past the pistons. The first thing you should do is to verify that the valvetrain is operating and at least close to being in time, by removing the valve cover and checking cam movement and position. If you have any valves that seem extremely loose then you could have some bent valves, or the valves could have froze if you tried to start the car with ANY 5 yr. old gas in the fuel system. If you have valves that have no lash to them at all then its possible they are set too tight. In which case just back them off to proper specs. Now the issue of compression leaking past the pistons. If the car sat for 5 years the piston rings could have frozen to the cylinder walls and broke when you cranked the engine over. Or there could be holes in all the pistons. Do a wet test by squirting about a teaspoons worth of oil in each spark plug hole and spin the motor around a couple of times, then do your compression test again. If you get better results, then you have a ring problem.
Hope this is of any use,
Charlie