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0 PSI on the compression test, excellent compression on #7... 030" valve clearance would allow some compression to be built. If this is indeed correct, my guess would be the top of the piston broke and is staying at the top of the stroke while the connecting rod and remaining part of the piston and pin boss is reciprocating in the cylinder bore.

Jim

Edit: One other thought, slim... but possible. Broken crankshaft at rear of engine causing #8 not to reciprocate. Either problem, if you could get a small flexible scope and go through the spark plug hole and rotate the engine it would be easy enough to verify.

Re-Edit: the car wouldn't move if the crank were broken. Scratch that brainless thought.

There are new lawn mower engine valve spring compressors available, and a few 'vintage' or 'antique' compressors on ebay. Bidding for one of the antiques in case I need it. What do you mean with snake oil? Should I 'snake the oil' onto the valve head and down the stem? Or do you mean put some mavel mystery oil or some penetrating oil on the valve/soak the valve stem?
Thanks.

The name "snake oil" dates back to the 1800's or earlier. In those days there was no law against making and selling any kind of medicine. There were many "Doctors" and "Professors" (with suspicious qualifications). They made and sold their own patent elixers including "snake oil" liniment, supposedly made from real snakes.

Practcally all of these "cure alls" were phony.They usually claimed to cure any disease of man or beast. Some did not do what they purported to do, others got results through the use of alcohol, morphine or cocaine.

Years later the name "snake oil" was given to any supposed "miracle cure" including the "engine rebuild in a bottle" products sold at your local auto parts store.

You can put a screw driver in the #8 spark plug hole and turn motor by hand to verify the piston is moving.

By 'snake oil' i mean any kind of Liquid Wrench or Marvel Mystery oil or any other such penetrating oils. To lube/clean the valve stem while u work it up and down and spin it to if possible.

Will the valve move up and down at all?????? If the valve does not move then most likely a worn out cam lobe.

Doubt it's a worn cam lobe, the video clearly shows both lifters and valves on #8 going up and down. Even if worn somewhat, assuming the valve wasn't bent or stuck, you'd still have compression. I still think the most likely reason is a bent valve, or a piece of broken piston or ring or other debris stuck under the valve head.

PS - assuming I'm correct, running the engine will risk battering the seat and if it gets battered too much to regrind, you'll be faced with installed a valve seat insert which typically involves removal of the engine. The valve is VERY hard but the seat is just cast iron. Time to pull the cylinder head, I'd say.

Hi guys,
Was on a vacation last week in Slovenia and Croatia that I don't want to repeat. My Renault Clio broke down 3 times -blew a seal between the turbo and intake manifold, and my girlfriend broke her leg
Today I double checked the compression on cyl 8 and it is indeed zero. I might be able to work with Kurt (who has the 1954 Pacific here in Germany) and take care of my engine and rust problems all at the same time....hope to organize transport the 80 miles or so to his neighborhood sometime soon and dig deeper.
-Sometimes your the pigeon and sometimes your the statue!

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes--particularly the girlfriends broken leg. As to the Renault have little experience or knowledge of late models --except for the model which was imported here and was called a Dauphine around the late 50's--don't think they were ever brought back alone except in the AMC Alliance matchup. Those, I guess were OK, but I think most who are familiar with the early ones would say that Renault was a car that would have been better kept in France.


EDIT: I had to refresh my memory on what the car looked like and found a Time magazine article-- which won't let me link unfortunately (google search, Renault Dauphine). Didn't realize it had made a list of 50 worst and some on the list might deserve a second look but one line that stood out on the Renault writeup is "a rickety paper-thin scandal of a car that if you stood beside it you could actually hear rusting". Very appropriate and I guess that was written because usually they were not running-- which is why you could hear them because you were standing next to them trying to flag down a ride.

Are the valve spring compressor tools available someplace? I have a contact coming over from the US in 2 weeks, so will ask him ....

Tobs, I know it's a bit late but questions about valve spring compressors for L-head engines seem to come up with some regularity so I took a couple of pictures of mine, a K-D No. 700. I've had this for about 40 years and done MANY valve jobs with it, it's very rugged, professional quality. I doubt this is still in manufacture but any decent regional or national antique auto flea market usually turn up at least a couple for sale, usually less than $5.00. The threaded screws across the upper and lower jaws are for adjusting the finger width that that surround the lifter bore base and spring retainer.

PS - When you compress the spring, the valve usually rises with it and requires a tap of the hammer to lower the valve, exposing the retainers. Don't forget to block off the oil return holes before doing this so the retainers don't pop off and fall into the crankcase. There is a special tool for placing the retainers in position before lowering the spring, but honestly it's not that useful, just a dap of grease on the inside of each retainer is usually enough to hold it in place while lowering the spring.

Sorry for delay in posting the pictures.

BTW, any news on the diagnosis of your problem?

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