Low Compression and Long Trip

I have a 2002 Tacoma xtra cab with 189k. I've only owned it for 6 months so can't exactly speak to it's previous mechanical history.

I'm gearing up for a long camping trip this summer towing a trailer. So, I thought it would be wise to check everything out including a compression check. Well.... that's when I discovered the bad news, my 3 and 5 cylinders checkout at 89psi and 110psi respectively. Ugh.

After a thorough leak down test I've come to the conclusion that it's bad rings as my test showed air escaping past the cylinders into the crankcase.

What to do?

Option A) is to sell it and pretend I don't know anything. It does run perfectly, only uses maybe 1 quart of oil per 5,000 miles. It's otherwise in excellent shape. I tow with it regularly and it does great.

Option B) is to dive in and rebuild it or put in a rebuilt motor.

Option C) is just drive it. It runs perfect and is otherwise a great truck.

What would you do? What have you done? Remember, I have a five thousand mile trip planned towing a camper with the family this summer and do not want to be stranded.

 

Interesting you have a good idea just what to do .

Seems someone passed along this poor compression engine to you !!!

What would you like to do??

Like this truck enough to rebuild the engine putting the $$$ into also do what other maintenance might need done??

How many miles on the truck ?? This could play into your decision in a major way.

Upgrade to a newer vehicle maybe with payments remembering even a brand new off the lot Truck can have a major failure in the worst possible place .

Make plans to be stranded so your ready if and when it happens.

A trip that long with family rather you then me.

 

Caveat : I have no experience with the V6, I'm a 4-banger guy.

Are you absolutely certain its the rings? Since the problem is in 2 adjacent cylinders, it could a bad head-gasket on that side.
If so, it might be worth it to pull just that head, do a valve job, and bolt it back up ( with an OEM gasket, not Fail-Pro ). I ASSUME that one side can be done without doing the other, I could be wrong. But a lot less work, and $$$.

 

"is to sell it and pretend I don't know anything"

And whats to say you will not end up with the same situation on your replacement.

Seems like you know what you are doing just confuse on which path to take.

"What would you like to do?" - Do you have the resources to address the issue, $$$, time, skills, tools, place to tear it up, etc. pick on what you are willing to give up to fix the issue. pay some body to get it fixed, fix it your self if you have the time, or just sell and take your chance again.

good luck!

 

Did you did compression test on fully warm up engine or cold?

Unless you have some crazy problems (misfires, smoking etc) I would just C) Drive it until stops which probably may not happen. Just keep on oil changes and use quality oil.

 

Pour a teaspoon of oil into each of the cylinders as you are doing the compression test (pour oil in, crank for a few seconds, then fit the compression tester, then test), and see what results you get. If the results are suddenly a lot closer to the goal, then your rings are bad. If the results are still all over the map, then you are probably looking at head gasket.

 

Thanks all for the replies and sorry I'm just now getting back to posting a reply.

Long story short and lesson well learned: CHECK COMPRESSION WITH ENGINE AT FULL OPERATING TEMP.

The engine was warm but not at operating temp, when I triple checked after just shutting the engine down compressions were all above 190psi.

@BlueT you nailed it!

 

See no issue, engine seals itself up when finally warms up. Thats why I always let engine warm up before I drive. With low compression you end up dumping gasoline to oil, reducing lubrication.
Regardless, I am glad you got to the bottom of it.