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Good compression reading for Crusader 454s

M

mike

Regular Contributor
" I've got an opportunity

" I've got an opportunity to buy two 1989 Crusader 454s to replace my older ones. They are in great cosmetic shape and the owner says he was fanatic about regular pro maintenance. The motors are on pallets, so I pulled the plugs, opened the throttle valve, hooked up the starter battery I pulled from my boat with some OK jumper cables, and took compression measurements with screw-in gauge (but could only get fitting finger tight - no room for wrench). The motors were last run about 6-8 weeks ago.

Compression ranged from 108 to 131, most around 110-120. The thing is, the motors turned SLOW. Maybe 1 second or more between surges. One motor was slower than the other. I know the battery and jumpers are a big question mark. After this I took the same battery and jumpers, and did the same with one of my motors, plugs still in. It turned over at least 2X as fast.

Any suggestions how to interpret this? Is that OK compression under the circumstances? Would a leak down test be a better test, and is it possible for an amateur to do one?

I'd also be interested if y'all think the $3000 per motor price (complete w/transmission) is fair.

Many thanks,
Mike "
 
" Don't know if your still

" Don't know if your still interested in this since it's been a month, but here are my thoughts. I'd do the compression test with all the plugs out, motor should turn over easily. Put a wrench on the a front pulley bolt and turn by hand, if it doesn't turn easily, expecially with the plugs out, forget it, there is something wrong inside. My opinion is that with the compression difference your seeing, these motors aren't in the best of shape, my 1400 hr Crusader runs between 128 and 135 on all cylinders. One question to ask, is why were they removed from the boat in the first place? A repower might have been prompted by the need to a $5K - $10K rebuild in the near future. I wouldn't pay $3K apiece for these engines. Maybe half that much if I knew I could get a cheap rebuild. "
 
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