Think with it being 8 years old it would have lasted a little longer. When I did pressure test I let it sit for a minute before I Released the pressure. So don’t think there is a leak in gasket. Think chain may have jumped. I don’t know.

 

still could be a head gasket. put a borescope down the plug hole and look for coolant. is the cooling system getting pressurized/

timing chain would effect both banks

 

That’s because there’s a valve in the compression gauge that retains the pressure reading until you can record it. The valve can be removed but that’s not gonna help you find the source of the leak.

The only components that can affect one bank are the head (and any valve train components on it) gasket, and block. Pull the plugs to check for mechanical damage. If no evidence of it, the head has to come off or you need a leak down tester.

 

That makes sense. When doing compression test I noticed oil on plugs from the firewall side. And fuel and clean on the other side. I said before I put all new plugs in. So oil there only makes sense that gasket is gone. Head is coming off soon.

 

On the 3.6 l there is separate timing chains for each block. On the chain is a tensioner to hold the chain in place. It is suggested by dodge to change these plastic pieces every 100000 km. I thought about it and was wondering if it was a head gasket why would it blow a head gasket with all 3 pistons loosing compression at the same time. That is why I thought maybe the plastic on the one side has warren and caused the chain to slack and be out of time loosing compression on all three pistons. What do you all think? Thanks again everyone.

 

It’s not impossible for the timing to be off and cause low compression, but the 3.6 is also an interference engine meaning there’s no excess clearance between the valves and pistons, so in most cases, if the timing is off by that much, it’s more likely to cause mechanical damage. That doesn’t mean, however, that the chain didn’t break and fall off the cam sprocket, which would completely seal the cylinder and also cause low compression (there has to be an inlet for air otherwise there’s nothing to compress).

Keep in mind that the head gasket is one potential cause. The head could be warped or cracked; the block could be cracked as well. Exactly why all 3 cylinders have low compression just depends on what the cause is.

To verify timing (direct from Dodge service info):

1) Remove the upper intake, valve covers, and spark plugs.
2) Rotate the crankshaft clockwise until cylinder #4 is at TDC on the compression stroke (yes, cylinder 4 - this is for timing verification only, not resetting).
3) Inspect the cam phasers - Verify the arrows on the right bank point away from each other and the arrows on the left bank point towards each other. The scribe lines (right bank only) should be parallel to the valve cover mounting surface (see figure below).


#1 & #3 are arrows #5 is scribe lines (right bank only)

 

From front of engine how are the cylinders counted?

what one is #4?

1 3 5
2 4 6. ?

2 4 6
1 3 5. ?

1 2 3
6 5 4 ?

4 5 6
3 2 1 ?

6 4 2
5 3 1 ?

5 3 1
6 4 2 ?

<—- passengers. Drivers side——>

thanks. I’ll take covers off tomorrow. If you could tell what is the order of pistons that would be great!!

 

Facing the engine from the crank pulley the left side (toward firewall) cylinders 1 3 5 the right side ( toward radiator side) cylinders 2 4 6.

 

b4 you pull the head...set to tdc for cyl 1 and check your timing marks. u will need to do this for assembly.. but if you want to check your timing for peace of mind

 

that was my first guess.
I will check today and let you all know.
dad always said it’s easy to fix, once you find out the problem. 😄
I think his other saying goes with this.
“The difficult we fix, the impossible takes a little longer.” 😄