REALLY REALLY bad day today.

[Ecode70D]

Rich
     Jumping ahead a little bit...
     In my mind if  the one in your car turns out to be no good, I think that having it rebuilt will cost a ton of money like previously stated.
     Buying a used one without hearing and seeing it running could be very risky.
     If I had to make the decision, I would be looking for a running donor car.  Drive it home and get the feel for it and install it.  Then again I have no idea how much they would want for
the running car.
     Out of curiosity, what do you know about the high mileage spare that you have?
I feel your pain.   Jay


     

     

[RICH MUISE]

Didn't take pics of the filter after I removed it.....looked normal, 2 gaskets, etc. 

Jay, the engine was running when I bought it, no knocks, but in definete need of attention, but I figured at the time on a rebuild. Hasn't run for 10-12 years now. Not something I want in my car without a rebuild. I'll wait until the right deal comes along. The one I ended up using was a babied, one owner 52K mile car with repairable rear quarter collision damage. Pretty slim I'll find one of those again, but a lot of  Lincolns are old lady cars, so there is a chance.

[Ecode70D]

UMM
  Rich I think that I have the solution but only older guys from Mass. would know what I'm talking about.
   Here goes.....How about if you took it to Adventure Car Hop in Saugus and shouted
Woo Woo  Ginsburg?  Then they would give you another one for free.  Right?
Jay

[hiball3985]

2 gaskets?  Did you read my post #57

[Ecode70D]

Didn't take pics of the filter after I removed it.....looked normal, 2 gaskets, etc. 

Jay, .  but a lot of  Lincolns are old lady cars, so there is a chance.

   X2 on that about the old lady cars, so there is still a chance.

[jviera]

Rich, Let me add my two cents if you would, don't do anything yet until you have pulled the engine and checked it out, it may need little in terms of cost compared to other used motors. Your entire engine is not short, just parts,  maybe it needs bearings, a cylinder hone and rings,if bottom end is good maybe cams. Take a step back and think about what needs to be done first and then next. Your time doing that is not costing you money and then you know were your at and then make your decision on what is best to do.   I wish you luck. John V

[CobraJoe]

Rich, I must say they look a lot better than expected. You have that one cap that is scored, but no way as bad as the one I posted.
It seems like all four cams would have to be out of time for you to have low compression all the way across the board.
Here's a couple of things you can try:
1.) Add a little oil to one cylinder and do a compression check again. If the compression goes up, it's probably rings.
2.) Remove the spark plug and bring the cylinder to TDC. Install a fitting onto your compression tester and screw it into the spark plug hole and hook up an air hose to it. I wouldn't go more than 10-12 psi and see if you hear any air leaking from the valves. If you do, than it probably jumped time.

Again, like many have said; I would tear down and rebuild rather than going the junkyard route, but that's just me.
Let us know what you find.

[CobraJoe]

2 gaskets?  Did you read my post #57

I'm with hiball, ; you shouldn't have had two gaskets, the old one must have gotten stuck to the block. If it did, you didn't really over tighten the filter, the stacked gaskets caused the oil to bypass the old gasket that probably squeezed out.   

[RICH MUISE]

2 gaskets?  Did you read my post #57

Yeah, I was being sarcastic. I'm just kicking myself because I always clean the sealing surface where the oil filter mounts, but apparently didn't do it this time because if I had I would have seen the old one still stuck on there. Amazing how one simple forgetful thing can lead to bigger things.

[CobraJoe]

Yeah, I was being sarcastic. I'm just kicking myself because I always clean the sealing surface where the oil filter mounts, but apparently didn't do it this time because if I had I would have seen the old one still stuck on there. Amazing how one simple forgetful thing can lead to bigger things.

[rmk57]

Post #3. It's happened to me a couple times. Fortunately I caught it before it emptied out 4 quarts of oil from 2.3 Pinto.

[Ecode70D]

Post #3. It's happened to me a couple times. Fortunately I caught it before it emptied out 4 quarts of oil from 2.3 Pinto.

     X2 what rmk57 stated.  That happened to me also.   

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, those cam bearing surfaces don't look bad at all. you need to understand what the hydro chain tensioner(s) and cam advance / lifters do in your engine. there are a lot of things that you need to find out before further trouble shooting. could you put mechanical tension to the tensioners with some kind of leverage?

[RICH MUISE]

I just did the compression test on the left bank. Significant difference, unfortunately, worse.
front to back
1= 20 dry, 70 wet(mystery oil)
2= 0 dry, 0 wet
3=20 dry, 20 wet
4= 30 dry, 40 wet

[CobraJoe]

I just did the compression test on the left bank. Significant difference, unfortunately, worse.
front to back
1= 20 dry, 70 wet(mystery oil)
2= 0 dry, 0 wet
3=20 dry, 20 wet
4= 30 dry, 40 wet

Man, I'm really sorry to hear that Rich, sounds like it may have jumped time on that bank. I would start with #2, which I assume is cylinder #6. If you haven't already, pull the valve cover and bring that cylinder to TDC and look at the valves, they should all be closed. If they look closed, pump say air into the cylinder and listen for leaks.

One question, do we know for sure that the compression gauge you are using is accurate? The reason I ask, is that you are pretty much in the same range, =/- 10 lbs in all cylinders except #6 &#7. If you bent a valve/valves in #6, that could be your backfire problem.

I'd check it on a motor that you know has good compression. Just a thought.