bad cylinder?

i've got a '98 reg. cab 4wd with the 2.7 L 4cyl 170,000 miles. the last few months, i've noticed a loss in power. 2 months ago i had new plugs put in, all new belts, and had the fuel injectors cleaned. they said the old plugs were among the worst they'd ever seen- the little L shaped metal piece on one of the plugs was eaten away to a little point! who knows how long i'd been driving with bad plugs. anyway, about a month ago it started running really rough. especially just after starting and when coming to a stop. and it doesn't sound right when idling. i took it to a toyo dealer and they did a compression test. one of the cylinders is only working at 50%. they wanted 200+ dollars to diagnose and i decided not to put any more money into the truck and get a new one... they said it's probably a cylinder problem and i would be looking at 2000-2500 to fix it. but they didn't know for sure. they also said it sounds like it is misfiring. any thoughts on what might be wrong? could it be an easy fix or am i better off putting the money toward a new one? could the problem be related to the FI cleaning? thanks much for your advice!

 

i was thinkin the same thing one of the valves are prolly stuck in the open position

 

compression at 50% = not good. You are running on 3.5 cylinders. Bad or broken piston rings could be a reason. or a valve/head problem, you can do a leak down test to find the reason. Either way not good, good luck

 

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0505_engine_building_tools/prices.html

yss it says chevy, but a leak down test will tell you all

 

if it's a valve problem, is that an expensive fix?

 

not if you know how to do it yourself

 

thanks much for the advice. i wouldn't know where to begin if i did it myself. i think i'm gonna get rid of it. thanks.

 

on a 4 cyl, especially toyota shouldnt be an arm and a leg I did a 16Valve toyota fx16 (4 cyl 16 valve corolla) and it wasnt out of the question and that was with magnaflux and head resurfacing, i cant remember how much it was, it's been years now.

 

you have options here, buy a rebuild head, rebuild the one you have, you don't have to replace everything, but it is good to do so. On the 16 valve head, I took it to a shop and found cracks around the valve seats through magna flux, they ground the cracks, welded them , did a valve job and the car was fine. Valves can be reused springs can be to. Just call a machine shop in your area, let them know whats up, at the same time a rebuild head is an option.

 

maybe i'll take it to a local guy rather than the toyo dealer. might get better price.

 

ill take it if it wasnt so far away lol