High compression readings

natwales

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
93
1988 5.7 Merc. My shop manual specs the compression at 150 (or 155 I forget), but I tested it today and got numbers ranging from 165 - 175. That's higher than I expected. I'm not complaining, but is this normal?
 

Don S

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
62,321
Re: High compression readings

How accurate is your gauge?
 

Don S

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
62,321
Re: High compression readings

Age of the gauge and where you bought it means nothing, the question is, how accurate is it.
What I do constantly at work is check one gauge against another. I also grab other compression gauges and check them against one another..
I sure wouldn't worry about it. If you had 1 or 2 cylinders with overly high compression readings, that could indicate water. But equal and consistant on all cylinders sounds like a gauge to me. Especially if the engine is running nicely and the plugs look good.
 
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