No Compression

I'm working on a 97 200sx. I've done most of the diagnostics I can do without ripping the engine apart. Compression test shows that there's 0 compression in all cylinders. I've got fuel, and spark. Is it possible that the timing's off or do I need to do a leak down test to see if the head's blown? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

How about starting from the begining. What happend that you decided to do a compression check.
No way you get 0 on all cylinders unless your timing is off, you burned up all your valves, you ran out of oil and scoured all the cylinders or something like that. What happened to start this, so we have a clue.

If you tested correctly and you really have 0psi in all cylinders then the motor is shot to hell really bad. But I have never seen a motor blow 0psi on all cylinders. My guess is faulty gauge or incorrect method of testing.

Like the guy above said, MORE INFO AND HISTORY!!!

My bad. The engine won't start. The starter will turn the engine over but there doesn't appear to be any combustion. I've checked compression, fuel, and spark. I also know the dizzy is good. Drove home fine with no apparent warning signs that I know of. Engine sounded good, accelerated OK, nothing out of the norm. After I got home, I let the car sit for a few hours and then went to leave and it wouldn't crank. This is to the best of my knowledge. I'm not the daily driver of the car. This is what he told me. I know the car is constantly used to transport passengers of 3 or 4 and when I say constantly I mean 2 to 3 times a day, 30 miles or more. It's worse on the weekends mileage wise. This car averages over 1000 miles a week. It has about 180,000 miles on it. I know that he was driving on a bad plug wire for about 6000 miles and that he used low octane gas at the cheapest places he could find it. No ethanol though.

The compression test was done by a local shop. They told me there was no compression on any cylinders. Should I check it myself? I did the check for fuel and spark. I guess I need to check the timing as well.

What engine? if it is the 1.6, has the timing chain ever been changed? If not they are 80k over due.
I find it unlikely there is 0 compression. Do the quick check pull a plug and have someone crank it over and see if it blows paper out of the way from the hole. That will tell you if it is moving air at all, and if it trys to suck it in.
So you know it has fuel and spark right? You say you checked, but didn't say if it was good or not.

Also I have had a few no starts before. Floor the gas pedal and crank, and see if it trys to catch.

Again, if it just quit, and it really has no compression, assuming the oil levels are correct, you got fuel, and spark, then the timing is probably gone.

like andrewh said pull a spark plug and check compression if u want to know for sure place ur thumb over it. if u feel air u have compression. the only time i have ever heard of 0 compression is if the engine is in pieces. sounds to me like u don't have any pistons left to have 0psi. so it sounds kinda bogus. definatley check it again.

Sweet! I never knew the trick about using paper. I'll try that because I know his internals arn't busted all to hell. Fuel pressure is correct, and there is definately enough spark to cause combustion and its firing in sequence. I'll check the compression myself and if i get air movement then I'll check his timing. I'm guessing the chain has never been changed. He doesn't get regular maintanence done. When I found that out I jumped his case. He doesn't even change his oil.

when he said no compression he may have meant its not any good, like 80psi per cyl or something, unless he specificly told you 0psi per cylinder.......check your fuel pump and filter, maybe you arent getting ENOUGH fuel, timing belt also very big

He specifically said 0 PSI because when he first told me that he didn't get any compression I asked if that meant that it was low or if there was none. And I'll repeat it again for everyones sake. I checked fuel and spark myself and they're good. That means that fuel is not only leaving the tank but it's at the correct presure, spark is not only there, it's strong and firing correctly in sequence. I've also checked that the fuel injectors are good by doing an ohm test (I missed that one earlier).

then you either have no pistons, which im sure you would have noticed, or your valves arent closing, swap the timing belt and get back to us

i have seen 0 compression a few times on a vech that was loaded with fuel . washing out the cyder walls causes 0 compression. Either that or someone stole you pistons. If the car ran fine , and wouldn't crank why you checking compression? I am now lost in this story. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have ..GL :)

I didn't do it. My mom can't stand the idea of me working on a car for some reason so before I could finish doing all my checks she had someone pick up the car to have it looked at. They did a compression test and it came up 0 psi all cylinders. I can't seem to get five minutes with the damn thing because of her and the guy that owns the car is too damn lazy to do anything about it himself. Like when his car had been sitting in the shop for almost 2 weeks and they had already given us a diagnosis, I was the one that ended up pushing the issue enough to get him to tow the thing home before they charged him storage fees. They wanted to do a full swap and that was gonna cost $1500 that he didn't have. All they checked was fuel spark and compression. I had already spent the time to check fuel and spark and they wasted a full day just trying to fix the ignition (which I told them we knew was bad when they picked it up. I even told them how to bypass it.) They thought that what we meant by the car not starting was that the ignition was bad. I had to re explain how to bypass the switch to get the car to attemp to start. Then it took them another day to decide there was no compression. They didn't check the head, or the block for leaks. Didn't check timing. They basically wasted $175 of this poor guys money to tell him he had no compression. Now the car is sitting at a friend's of his house. I don't know if the guy has looked at it like he's suppose to or not because my lazy friend won't call and I don't have the number. I don't have a job so it would be real easy for me to take time out of my schedule to work on his car. So basically I checked fuel and spark and they're good. I don't have a compression kit, so I can't take an accurate reading to see if this shop knows what they're doing, and now I have to wait on some other moron to find a moment in his free time to tell us what he thinks. I love it!

Here's the symptoms, engine turns over with starter but doesn't attempt to fire up. Sounds like there is no combustion. Spark is good (just replaced the wires) and the dizzy is firing in sequence (checked that myself). Did a fuel pressure test, there's plenty of fuel to get it going. Shop did compression test before I could check spark plugs and said no compression. I haven't had a chance to mess with it since other than to install a push button start for the guy that's suppose to be looking at it now. Any other ideas would help. I don't really feel like making this guy dish out $800-$900 for an engine right now. He just doesn't have the $$$. If I can save him $300-$400 by doing the work myself, then so be it. Ohh before I forget. It doesn't sound like the pistons are crushed all to hell or anything. It sounds normal when cranking minus no explosion.

change the fucking timing belt

You mean chain? There's no reason to get mad and start cussing people. I was just explaining the history to try answer any questions I may have not orginally thought about. This way you know everything that I know.

pull fuel pump fuse .. crank it a few times approx a min. Dry to dry out cylinders. If they are washed out due to fuel flooding out cylinder it will cause a 0 compression. you said you crank it, and it does nothing, every time you crank it fuel keeps going in there.. try pulling the fuse and plugs let the cylinders dry out .. gl

I still haven't check the compression myself, my lazy friend hasn't called the guy that's looking at his car even. I've got to wait and see if this guy comes up with a soulution other than replacing the engine. I'll let you guys know when he gets in touch.

ok im going to tell you two things, to get ZERO compression your valves are still open during the compression stroke of the engine, which indicates bad cam timing, go buy a timing belt ( to the best of my knowledge nissan didnt switch to a chain until the newer b15 chassis series cars) and install it, find a repair manual and get the factory timing specs for the intake and exhaust cams (if it is DOCH) re-time the car to factory specs and then do the trick mentioned above with the fuel pump fuse to clear the cylinders, re-install the fuse and crank the car up and give it back to your friend, dont post again until you have made an effort to fix it

Ok the guy that gave me the zero compression didn't know what he was talking about. The other mechanic said that it came back low but not none. He did some prowling and found a crack in the head. I need to replace the head. My friend decided that he didn't want to deal with it so I bought the car for $500 and I'm gonna fix it. I'm looking for a replacement head so if anybody's got one let me know. I'll start looking around for good prices.

Should I change the head bolts?

That is a debate topic. I would since you have an aluminum head. Can't over torque that much. Plus any streching would be handled by a good torque wrench.
I would wonder why the head cracked though. Loss of coolant? overheating, something caused it.

My best guess would be excessive use. The guy put 10,000 miles on it the last month that he drove it. He was constantly going places with 3 or 4 other teenagers in the car. It was sitting close to 200,000 miles before it blew. This guy doesn't get any basic maintenance done. He's had the car for a year now and never changed the oil.

glad to see you got some useful information, sorry about the head though, that = teh suxor...........when you replace the head make sure you flush the coolant and stuff, if he didnt do any maintaining there is probably some sludge that kept the coolant from reaching the head, which may explain your cracked head, i would reccomend arp head bolts, they distribute the torque evenly across the head so less chance of a repeat