junk yard engines

ok so im lookin for a new engine for my crx and i came across 1 at the local junkyard so i picked it up for 400 bucks... but when i got home i did a compression test on it and only the first cylinder had compression the rest were like only 10psi. so i called them up cussed them out and got me another motor this time they promised it had compression... but the dam thing didnt. then a buddy had suggested that if it had sat for a long period of time then the rings would'nt seal properly and that i should add a little oil to the cylinders and redo the test..so i did and all but 1 cylinder cam up and when im doing the test i can see the compressed air coming out of the exhast ports except the 1 dead cylinder i cant see or feel any air being rushed past any open or burned valves or nowhere... hopefully a bad headgaskets the cause there

so i guess my question is could an engine really loose the seal between the rings and wall if let sit lets say a year or so??? and the compression only be like 15psi the skyrocket to 180 when the oil is added

also if i let the #2 cylinder built its top compression it reaches like 240psi is that normal because the highest compression i got off the ther 2 where 180.......

any help or ideas would b apreciated .... and sorry for al the questions and me sounding ignorent lol:rofl:

you are doing the compression test with the longblock in the car at normal operating temps?

what does your leakdown say?

thats the thing the engine wont run thats what i mean on doing a compression test on a engine thats sat for a while... no i didnt do a leak down how do i to that?? the compression tester has a valve stem in it to hold the compression in. lol im clueless

the inconsistent readings are due to the engine being cold. do a leak down.

http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/leakdown/leakdown.php

PS: the junk yard will not do the leakdown for you prior to purchasing the block?

very cool info ill see if i can pick up a leakdown test and see what kinda results i can get.. also with this second engine i havent installed it in the car cuz i wanted to make sure it had compression and a mechanic friend told me that all i had to do was connect a tranny and starter to the long block on the ground to do it...so i did . dont laugh if that sounds wack i just do what plp tell me to.. and so the first reading didnt have any so i added oil then all but 1 cylinder came up... ill see if i can get ahold of that tool today and ill post back...

you can do that too. id prefer the leakdown.

well im starting to loose interest with doing my engine swap now due to all the dam bad luck ive encountered so now im gonna go to a local pick n pull and source out a stock short block to replace my old 1 that spun a rod bearing... slowly ill invest the time to find the source of problem with this motor and do a rebuild on it..... ive learned a lesson not to deal with my local auto wrecker .... they burned me twice . not ever again though