Compression Tester

[Brent 41 9N]

Well, after listening to you guys for a few weeks, I finally went and picked up a compression tester to help determine why i"m smoking a little. I had no idea they had gone up so much. The cheapest one I could find locally was $39.99. Don"t realy know why I am worried about this small amount of oil usage, but it bothers me not to know. Several of you stated that I should not pull the head, but the curiosity is killing me. I just have to know what she looks like. I guess for now, I will test each cylinder, and continue to add a quart of oil every 8 running hours. My neighbor has a 40 9N and he says mine does not smoke, but when under a load she puffs a little. Still concerned about the moisture under my oil fill breather. Condensation I guess.
Thank you guys for all your discussion inputs. It has helped ease my mind long enough to get a little work done.

 

[Bob]

A compression test won't necessarily tell you a lot about your oil burning.

Each piston has compression rings AND and oil control ring.

You can have GREAT compression and burn oil OR weaker compression and NOT burn a lot of oil.

It just depends upon which ring(s) are worn/damaged/broken.