advice needed

[sco3y]

i have just baught a 1991 mk2 gti that needed some tlc. i got no service history with the it but the car had a full mot 40k on the clock(yeah right 40 k) , and some tax , bbs , and a nice dark met  blue colour. so what the heck it aint smoking and it runs and drives nice. only problem with it apart from dull paint was the exhaust was blowing and previous owner had pi**ed about with the timing so the car had no go in it. exhaust is now sorted so off to my local garage to have the timing sorted and a compression test. good news, timing is all sweet now, bad news your compression is very low. cyl 1 (75) 2 (60) 3 (75) 4 (100). erm sh!t erm dohh. talk english mate. he advised it could be bottom end problems but could also be the timing belt had not been put on correctly. he told me to go to an engineering place and ask for advice and the advice was ...?? all the way. he said if the car sounds ok and drives ok it wont be a timing belt problem. if he sorted the bottom end out the price will be ?300+ but it may be the top end that may have problems. the only sure way was a full engine rebuild at ?1000 + erm thanks for the advice mate i will let you know. so here i am. any ideas people. i dont want to look for a second hand engine and find that one has problems.
one more thing, since having my timing done the car wont stop poping every time i slow down now. (go on tell me i got a  duff un )

i have just checked my spark plugs and 2 of them look well worn, the other 2 look like they were took from a ford. single point not tripple.
could this cause  the popping and low compression.

[rubjonny]

Dunno about the other problems, but replace the plugs anyway as they are cheap!  Get em direct from VW as they are the cheapest apparently!

[Gambit]

did he do both a wet n dry compression test?

that'll tell you if it is the rings or its the head gasket

[golfvr6]

Add a teaspoon of oil, if pressure improves then the rings are worn, if they don't then the cylinder head is worn.
if 2 adjacent cylinders are low then its lightly to be a blown head gasket.

[Len]

With compression that low its probably head gasket plus sumthin else.
With the wrong spark plugs u've probably got a build up of deposits. So valves not seating properly.
Worth taking the head off for a look - but if ya cant do it yerself then u are in for some large bills!

[sco3y]

cheers for the reply's

ok i have changed the spark plugs and it has made a slight improvement. it's still popping a bit and the car was trying to cut out  when stoping, but that soon went when the car warmed up a bit.
 f**k it.
 i took the car to another local garage and told him what the car was doing and shown him my print out from the other garage.
his first words was valve problems. but, a big BUT? your cam belt may be a notch or 2 out. so maybe there is hope in the old engine yet.
so the car is booked in next week to see if the belt is on ok and if it aint, wet compression  test  being done on it.
i have a funny feeling no matter what i do its going to be very costly.

one more thing.
if the car isn't showing signs of a creamy oil cap and blue smoking exhaust, could the low compression still indicate blown head gesket as golfvr6 mention'd.
just thinking ahead, anyone in the north west selling a good gti engine.

[frankerooney]

You could have a head gasket blow between cylinders and have no other symptoms like oil in water, coolant loss, etc. It would be pretty unusual to have a blow across all 3 gasket gaps though wouldn't it? A blow of that type would probably show up as low on 2 adjacent cylinders, not 3 (or 4).

It's possibly carbon buildup on the valves, or if the belt was out (you could check this yourself probably) the valves would possibly be slightly open when you want them closed and the cylinder compressing.

On later golfs there should be a slight nick which idicates the timing - on the crankshaft (bottom)pulley which drives the alternator + water pump. You can check this lines up with TDC (top dead centre) on the camshaft pulley. Try taking the spark plugs out, taking the top cover off the timing belt, and using a 19mm socket and ratchet on the centre of the bottom crank pulley, turn the engine (CLOCKWISE) until the mark on the camshaft (top pulley) which says "TDC" lines up with the one on the plastic cover just behind it that also says "TDC". Then look at the crankshaft pulley, and check where the nick in it is. There should be a mark on the bottom cover and the nick should point right at this. If not, it's one or more teeth out...

Anyway, if you've booked it in, then they'll do all this for you (at a price!)
Cheers