Maverick Problems

broke ring? do the leak down test.

 

how do u do a leak down test??

 

a compression test right??

 

A leak-down test is done by putting air in the cylinder and checking for the amount and leakage area to determine what needs to be repaired. It tells you a whole lot more about the condition of your engine than a compression test.

 

Might be a shot in the dark but is the cam stock??? mabey a worn down lifter or 2? pull valve covers to confirm.

 

A couple things I ran into over the years was:
1) engine was fine and then....bad idle, no power, stalling; I removed a valve cover and found 2 rocker arms off of their pushrods.
2) If your carb was removed, it could have been tipped upside down; sometimes they wont function properly after they're put on again if that happened.
I changed my intake last summer, and carb at the same time, and it would not idle right unless you held the gas on. I had the intake off a couple times (going crazy like you, looking for leaks and such) and finally tried the carb off my truck and it ran perfect.
But, like others have said, get a vaccum gage and check, it was the best $25 I spent. You can diagnose a lot by how the needle is behaving.

 

Ok everyone.... I have some good news and some very bad news

bad news:
Cylinder #1 has 40 lbs of compression
cylinder #2 has 0 lbs of compression
thus the engine need to be pulled

good news:
I have found a wrecked 1985 mustang gt for $500 not to far from me.... It only has 100,xxx miles on it. So i'm going to go take a look and have it towed to my house.