440 J series - low compression left side head

[interceptor@joc.org.uk]

Hi all,

I helped a fellow JOC member today, he had a chuffity chuffity coming out of his left exhaust pipe.

So I checked compressions - Most were 120 psi, but cylinders on left - 2nd and 4th from front are both 75. I did not have oil on me so could not do wet test plus engine has only ever run on leaded fuel as it has been off road for over 20 years.

Could the low compression on left side two cylinders cause chuffity chuffity form exhaust I wonder please ?

I assume this could be valve seat recession as the rest of the engine seems to work and start ok with no noises.

Please may I ask for any ideas or thoughts.

My final comments were to the owner, I advise you to save up £2000 and then get the head overhauled or replaced one day in the future.

cheers
Neil

[RockyUSA]

Could be stuck rings, as well, especially if it has been sitting for 20 years….

There’s some possibility that they might free up with some use. Time (and operation) might tell.

Or a leak-down test.

Rocky

[slotcarone]

Is the engine smooth when you rev it up? If it has been sitting and it sounds quiet I would let it be and drive the car before doing anything. It may get better. Valve seat recession is not a typical thing on these engines.

[Chris_R]

As far as I know the 440 J series were designed for unleaded fuels from the outset, as I think at that time it was already mandated in California, which should eliminate valve seat recession due to fuels.

[interceptor@joc.org.uk]

Cheers all - Will definately try leakdown test and also will take oil for next test and advise owner to drive it more, only driven 10 miles since back on road after 20+ years.

Definately J series - so hopefully hardended seats.

Thank you
All

[Steve Payne]

Valve seat recession is a problem on these cars, those that think its OK are living on borrowed time if they dont use an additive. I have seen a cylinder head on one of these engines with the valves so far recessed that they had gone into the waterways and the heads were scrap.
When new I am sure it was not a problem and of course the cars in the UK had lead for the first half of there life.
Going back the original problem that Neil has it could be the head gasket between the cylinders. Usually if a valve seat has failed the compression will be lower than that. How much fumes are coming out of the oil filler cap if you remove it while it is running? If it is more that usual this points towards stuck rings.
Steve

[interceptor@joc.org.uk]

Thank you Steve, I have watched Brett's video, hence the concern about J series and valve seat recession. I think Brett even has newer engine.

So much for unleaded protection.

Owner has brought some Berrymans which he is going to spray into sparkplug holes, this is known be American YouTubers to free things up.

https://www.berrymanproducts.com/questi ... ton-rings/

cheers
Neil

[johnw]

Chufferty chufferty sounds like an exhaust manifold leak. If someone fitted manifols gaskets in the past they can fail. No gasket when new. If you put your fingers under the manifold on a cold engine just started, you can feel the hot air leaking sometimes.

If you want to fix the chufferty chufferty, take the manifold off on that side, clean and use Holts Firegum from Halfords.

[Keith]

Chufferty chufferty sounds like an exhaust manifold leak.
If you want to fix the chufferty chufferty, take the manifold off on that side, clean and use Holts Firegum from Halfords.

In the original post, it was stated: "he had a chuffity chuffity coming out of his left exhaust pipe", not from the exhaust manifolds.

[interceptor@joc.org.uk]

well everyone, Berryman was injected into each cylinder and left for a day and then injected again and then dribbled in whilst engine was tickling over. So far the engine seems to be running without chuffety now.

plus manifold gasket replaced to exhausts for a good simple improvement too as the manifold could also have been involved.

cheers
Neil

[johnw]

Sounds like the chufferty chufferty was the manifold gaskets. The Berrymans wouldn't fix valve recession etc. It would be interesting to know if Berrymans fixed the low compression on those two cylinders by freeing stuck rings.