I have a 1999 Durango 5.9l. I installed new heads and now have no compression in first cylinder. Blew compressed air into it and it blew out of the throttle. Loosened the rocker bolts and it held pressure. Retorqued all rocker bolts to no solution. I haven't ran it with the valve cover off yet. Any suggestions?

 

Leave the valve cover off on the one side and crank the engine, see if the rockers are moving. Sometimes the push rod may not be in the lifter. Or you have a bend push rod. If they are moving up and down, hook up a compression gauge and do a dry and wet test and post the findings.

 

+1 on that Master!

 

I might get to it tomorrow but quick question... wouldn't a bend rod or a rod not in the lifter cause the valve to stay closed? The intake valve is staying open. I'll know more tomorrow. Thanks guys.

 

If the valve is staying open. whats causing the valve to stay open. A bend push rod or push not in the lifter wouldn't allow the valve to open or not much at all. The valve spring which close's the valve is either broken spring or valve seat drop causing the valve to stay open. The only way a push rod could keep the valve open is if you have the push rod sitting on the block and not into the lifter, then torque the rocker down, this will keep the valve open too. Thats why you need to crank the engine to see if the rockers are moving up and down.

 

Another thing you might want to consider is that you are not on TDC1.

 

That is a good question.That be only if the dist shaft was removed. That would cause a compression problem with all the cylinders not just one cylinder. If the cylinder heads were replaced, you don't need do anything with the dist. The cap can stay on along with wires. You just move everything towards the bulkhead.

 

Distributor has nothing to do with the timing of the cam to the crank (timing chain)?????

 

New cylinder heads. New valves. New springs. We did the timing chain months ago. I have zero compression in that one cylinder. I'll let you all know what I find when I crank it with the valve cover off.

 

Sorry it took so long to get back to all of you. Finally ran it with the valve cover off. The rocker arm was bolted down too tight. With that adjusted I gained my compression back but found another problem... Oil is not seeping up through the push rod on the intake valve. Removed the push rod and it wasn't plugged so now I need to see if the lifter cup is plugged or if it's a bad lifter. Fun stuff.